


been a long time but i'm back in town

by asharaofthedawn, peachmaisie



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/M, Fluff and Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-01-23 17:49:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18554764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asharaofthedawn/pseuds/asharaofthedawn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachmaisie/pseuds/peachmaisie
Summary: Matt splays out on the couch as he waits for Elektra to return, slipping off his fitted blazer before resting his arms up behind his head. He closes his eyes and focuses on Elektra, a mere room away. The sound of her stripping from her clothes left Matt chewing on his inner cheek, not letting himself gain too much satisfaction from listening in.“Better?” Matt asks sweetly once Elektra returns. He tilts his head up in her direction, catching the silk of her robe brushing up against her skin. It would be so easy to comment on it, to remind her of all the other times she had worn silk for him back in their college days but Matt says quiet, instead waits for Elektra to make the next move.





	1. don't go changing

**Author's Note:**

> me and my pal julia have started a mattelektra rp on tumblr, she plays elektra and i'm matt, we've decided to start posting our verses on here for you all to enjoy! we will be continuing this verse in the future, probably rewriting season two completely how we want, cause we're bitter. i hope you enjoy! check us out on tumblr at ["maggiemurdock"](http://maggiemurdock.tumblr.com/) and ["ourgraciousqueen"](https://ourgraciousqueen.tumblr.com/#_=_)

Matt walks around Elektra’s apartment, soaking himself in all the smells and tastes long since forgotten or faded. It didn’t take a lot for him to locate it once he’d returned back to New York but it did take courage to actually break in. Not because he was afraid of Elektra but rather what her heart would say upon her seeing him for the first time in ten years.

He sits down on the couch, a glass with a small amount of Mezcal in hand— he smiles at the thought of how some things had stayed the same. He recalled the taste of it on her lips back in college, back when corruption had been so sweet.

It isn’t until Elektra was a block away from her apartment that Matt caught sound of her, her heels against the pavement and the polite thank you she gave to the doorman. Matt’s legs shook with anticipation as she got closer and closer, he was smiling to himself as the door clicked open.

Elektra opens the door and walks in. Her hair wet from the rain clinging to her skin.

Her dinner party with a few associates had gone relatively well, (everyone wanted to celebrate the new murderous vigilante being captured), minus her getting caught in the rain on the way home.

To make it worse, her fancy umbrella was destroyed by the harsh hollowing winds.

She puts down her Dior purse and slips out of her Louboutin heels. She pads barefoot into the kitchen and freezes when she turns the corner.

She senses another presence in her home. She slowly moves her hand into her pocket. Reaching for the knife she always has hidden on her person.

As she turns to strike, she sees his face and freezes. “ _Matthew_.”

Matt can’t stop himself from smiling at the sound of his name on Elektra’s tongue. He takes a sip from his glass, the tequila bitter and burning slightly down his throat but that was exactly the kind of discomfort that made him think of her. He pushes his dark red glasses up the bridge of his nose as he stands up, dressed well in a nicely tailored suit hugging all the right places.

“I thought you hated New York,” Matt says in reference to Elektra’s permanent stay in the city. There’s a slight giddiness in his voice, almost as though he is excited to be back playing games. He isn’t malicious but he can’t resist teasing, he’s only human after all.

“Things change.” Her tone has a biting edge to it. She pushes some of the wet hair out of her face, while contemplating putting down the knife or not.

Even after all these years, she can’t see Matt attacking her, but better safe than sorry.

“What are you doing here? In my flat?” She definitely doesn’t check him out in his well-tailored suit.

Though she can’t stop the near giddiness in his voice from making her cheeks flush.

“I thought I’d visit, now that I’m back in town,” Matt can’t say he didn’t expect his visit to be unwelcomed after what went down back in college it might be the only acceptable response. Still, he doesn’t miss the speeding up of Elektra’s heart, the warmth growing in her face. He smiles innocently, it’s almost believable.

He bends down and picks up the glass again, downing the rest of the Mezcal with ease. After doing so, he starts to walk towards Elektra, slowly like a lion readying to pounce.

“Is it that hard to believe I missed you?”

“Yes.” Elektra snatches the bottle of Mezcal perched on her island and takes a swig. The alcohol burns down her throat. A reminder that this isn’t a crazy dream.

She gracefully arches an eyebrow at him as he moves closer. Vowing not to give any more emotion away. “And why are you back in town?”

He’s skidding around her question like this is a game. They don’t play games together. Not anymore.

Matt hums and reaches out to take the bottle from her, letting their fingers brush as he does so. His bottom lip juts out as he pours some more liquid into his glass, taking his time as to revel in the feeling of being close again. He wants to reach out and touch her for real, tuck her wet hair out from her face and strip her clothes and get her into something dry; he doesn’t though.

“Business,” he says simply and takes another sip. Matt leans against the counter, thoughtless tracing his finger around the rim of his glass. “I thought while I was here, we could catch up for old times sake.”

Elektra lets out an abrupt laugh. Ignoring the tingles that now sit under her skin from their fingers brushing. “What are you, delusional? Do you honestly think you could just show back up, and I’d welcome you with a hug and smile?”

She snatches the bottle and takes a small sip this time, before placing it hard on the island. Revelling in the sound the glass makes as it connects with the granite. Knowing it might grate Matt’s fine-tuned ears.

_She does have a vindictive side._

The wet clothes still cling to her skin, and she’s desperate to get out of them, but she won’t change with Matt in her flat. Who knows what he’ll be able to sense, even with her in the next room.

“And what’s so special about this business that it dragged you back here?”

While Matt likes his games, he isn’t actively trying to upset Elektra. He winces at the sound of the bottle colliding with the counter and takes that as the reaction he’d been playing for. He starts to back up, walking back to the couch and then perches himself on one of the arms.

“Is it that surprising I came back? Hell’s Kitchen was my home first, you know,” he explains with an almost know-it-all tone, taking yet another long sip from his glass as he senses the hairs rising up on Elektra’s arms, feels the shiver running up her body. He knows full well that she won’t change with him here but he can imagine how her wet clothes are clinging, and that alone is a thought to keep him company on lonely nights.

“Lawyer things,” he smiles, “I’m representing a gentleman who is suing Roxxon Oil, he’s been left with terminal illnesses as a result of his work, none of the dangers of which had been disclosed beforehand.” He gestures towards Elektra with his glass, his knuckles recovering from what appears to be some nasty bruising, “Last I heard, you’d involved yourself with Roxxon.”

“Not by choice. My father made a bad investment with them, and I’ve dealt with the fallout since he died. Honestly, I don’t care if you bleed them dry.”

Elektra glances at his knuckles with interest. “What happened to your hands?” Concern bleeding through her frosty exterior.

She picks at her wet blouse as she waits for his answer. Hoping to gain some relief from the soaking wet clothes that now stick to her like a second skin.

She’s taking a nice hot shower as soon as he’s out the door. Whenever that’ll be.

“Business,” he repeats once more, lowering his hand out of sight. It wasn’t technically a lie, his bruises had everything to do with the case he was working on, he’d just come out looking far better than the employee he’d cornered late last night in the dark.

Matt sighs at the sound of Elektra toying with her wet shirt, his own impatience kicking in. “You should change, you’re going to freeze to death.” He says, voice full of concern, “I won’t look, cross my heart.” He does the motion, drawing a cross over his heart, eyebrows drawn raced and smile barely being bit back.

“ _Ass_.” She huffs under her breath. Very aware that he can hear her.

Elektra wants to stay in the clothes just to be stubborn, but she’s feeling chilled to the bone, and it’s getting to her.

“Fine I’ll change, but when I come back out you better tell me why you really ‘dropped’ in.”

Her damp feet leave marks on the floor as she heads to her bedroom.

She strips out of the wet blouse and skirt and throws them into the dryer. She picks up her favorite red silk robe that lays by her bed and pulls her hair into a bun.

It’ll be wavy when she takes it out, just like it was the day she last saw Matt.

 _You’re not doing this because of him, it just for comfort._ She tells herself as she heads back into the kitchen.

Matt lays out on the couch as he waits for Elektra to return, slipping off his fitted blazer before resting his arms up behind his head. He closes his eyes and focuses on Elektra, a mere room away. The sound of her stripping from her clothes left Matt chewing on his inner cheek, not letting himself gain too much satisfaction from listening in.

“Better?” Matt asks sweetly once Elektra returns. He tilts his head up in her direction, catching the silk of her robe brushing up against her skin. It would be so easy to comment on it, to remind her of all the other times she had worn silk for him back in their college days but Matt says quiet, instead waits for Elektra to make the next move.

“Comfy?” Elektra dodges his question with another question, as she takes in him splayed out on her couch. An Elektra Natchios speciality.

 _He almost looks like he belongs there._ She quickly shoots that thought away.

She takes a seat across from him, the silk of her robe riding up and revealing more of her smooth bare legs.

“Now I’d like to know why you’re really here. What you’re doing in Hell’s Kitchen, I don’t care.” A lie. “But I want to know why you’re here in my home. I’m sure you could’ve completely avoided me altogether if you wanted too, batboy.”

One of her old nicknames for him slips out, and she bites the inside of her cheek in frustration. She’s getting too comfortable with him here, and that’s not good.

“Your old couch was better,” Matt quips, “the leather one, from your college apartment. We spent all night breaking it in,” he sits up slightly, back resting against the armrest as he smiles up at the ceiling. It’s a memory he’s thought of often, more often than he might like to admit without appearing soft.

It’s impossible for Matt to not smile at the sound of her lying and even more so at the nickname she’d let slip. Elektra had every right to not want to see him ever again, but so far, she wasn’t doing a great job of convincing him to leave.

“I’m serious, I wanted to see how you were doing,” Matt says, and it’s the truth. Suddenly, his smile fades to something more curious, his jaw clenches and fingers fiddle with a loose thread coming from his shirt. “I thought you might have gotten yourself a new boy toy, but there hasn’t been another man here in weeks, I would have smelled him.”

The thought of her old couch brings back old memories that she shoos away. Now is not the time for lustful thoughts.

“I could see him at his place. You don’t know.” He’s right though. She hasn’t had a boy toy in ages. No man has been appealing to her of late. When she wants sexual relief, she’s been having to do it herself.

Elektra doesn’t dare say that thoughts of him have been her friend on those nights.

“How long are you planning to stay in the Kitchen? I need to know if I’ll have to start warning my security to look out for you.” She says with a razor-sharp smile.

As she shifts in her seat, she irritates a bruise from her latest fight with Frank and bites back a hiss of pain.

The thought of Elektra with another man sent Matt’s blood boiling, despite knowing she wasn’t telling the truth. She didn’t belong to him, it had been years since they’d dated and Matt knew he couldn’t stop her from seeing any man she wanted. Still, he tightens his jaw once more at the thought of her tangled in silk sheets with a stranger.

“A couple of weeks, maybe.” He says casually, raising an eyebrow at the sound of pain Elektra let out. He wasn’t stupid, he’d heard on the news about the fights taking place across Hell’s Kitchen, a woman in black performing vigilante justice from seeming out of the blue. He’d know Elektra anywhere, knew how she liked to fight. “I heard there’s a Devil lurking around the city, maybe she’ll save me from your lap dogs.”

“Maybe,” Elektra says casually. Knowing he can catch her in a lie. “Hmm, a few weeks, I thought you’d say less.”

She hoped he’d say less. The longer he’s in New York, the more likely it is she could possibly fall back into his arms, and she refuses to let that happen.

She catches sight of her clock from the corner of her eyes and sees the time. It’s almost two o’clock.

She stands from her seat. Stretching as she rises. “I better be off to bed. I have a meeting with the bloodsuckers of Roxxon tomorrow morning.”

She walks past the couch, the silk of her robe gliding across her legs as she moves.

Elektra opens her bedroom and looks back at him. “Be gone by the time I wake up.” She shuts the door behind her without another word.

“Sweet dreams, Elektra,” Matt calls back, not at all missing the sound of her silk robe caressing her skin. The sound of her door closing brings his mind back, now alone in her living room, laid out across her couch like he owned it.

It was tempting to stay, to spent the night even if it was with walls between them. Matt knew however he couldn’t, not if he wanted a chance of seeing her like this again. Begrudgingly, he pulls himself up and grabs his jacket, slipping it back on before starting to head towards the fire exit he used to sneak in.

Suddenly, Matt stops dead in his tracks. He’s still for a few moments before slipping his glasses off and placing them on a bookshelf on the wall beside him. It was unlikely anyone was to see him as he left but if so, they’d remember a blind man for certain. Then, as quietly as he came, Matt sneaks his way out of her apartment and out into the city.

* * *

 He’s gone in the morning just like she asked. A part of her is disappointed to see him go, but she pushes it away as she grabs her breakfast, then gets dressed.

As Elektra walks through her living room, she notices the sunlight hitting off of something on her bookshelf. She moves closer and sees Matt’s red round glasses sitting there.

“Batboy.” She resists the urge to smile at his antics.

She’ll now have to find out when his meeting with Roxxon is, and return his glasses. Meaning they’ll have to meet again.

No one can ever say Matt is a stupid man.

She makes a few calls and finds his meeting is a half hour after hers.

When she's finished with Mr Hirochi and Stan Gibson talking down to her, she takes a seat in the lobby and waits.

Matt can smell Elektra’s perfume as soon as he enters the building, he can’t stop himself from smiling as he makes his way over to reception and introduces himself with a charming smile that leaves the receptionist swooning. He’s then lead up to where his meeting with the Roxxon representatives will be taking place, the same office Elektra had been in just before him.

After being told to wait, Matt politely thanks the employee for his help before being directed towards the seats. His cane taps against the floor until it collides against an empty chair, exactly opposite the one Elektra was sat in. He says nothing as he sits down but his face says it all, clearly amused to be with Elektra so soon after their tense reunion the night before.

He sits with his legs spread, hands resting on his thighs and his head tilted ever so slightly, listening in to what was being said in the office a few feet away. His eyes are covered with glasses but the cheap kind, plastic lenses and totally black unlike his usual choice, the ones he left at Elektra’s apartment.

“Missing something?” She asks with a coy smile as she takes the glasses out of her bag.

Elektra looks down at them. Taking in their details. “I have to say getting these glasses might’ve been the best choice you’ve ever made.”

She didn’t have any issues with his black glasses back in college, but looking at them in comparison to the red ones, she’d have to say he made a large upgrade switching them.

She quickly scans the room and sees no one in sight. “Catch.” She throws the glasses towards him.

Matt grabs the glasses out of the air with ease, placing them onto his lap as he took his cheaper pair off and slid them inside of his jacket. For a few moments, his eyes are on display, looking blankly towards the wall behind Elektra before Matt slides his red ones back on.

“How sweet,” he says softly, in a voice quiet enough for Elektra to hear but not to attract anyone’s attention. “I don’t know though, I still managed to woo you over wearing those old ones. Maybe it’s not really ‘bout the glasses at all.”

“Guess we’ll never know.” She says with a coy shrug. “I better go. The life of a socialite is very busy.”

She slips a hand back into her purse and hits the button on the top of her ‘pen’, before closing it. She stands up and smiles thinking about the chaos she’s about to cause to the snakes of Roxxon.

“Have a nice day Matthew.” She turns and walks down the hall. Knowing this won’t be the last she’ll see of him. It wouldn’t be in his nature to leave things as is.

Matt catches the sound of the pen clicking within Elektra’s bag but says nothing, instead keeps his face neutral as she stands up and begins to walk away. Inside? He’s giddy with the thought of playing again, knowing that Elektra may not have welcomed him in with open arms but perhaps this time, things might not turn so fast into a tragedy.

A pair of footsteps exit the office and Matt straightens up, keeping a tight hold of his cane. He’s polite and professional upon introducing himself to the representatives and bites back a snarl as he is pulled without being asked towards the open door.

He can sense something beginning around him as he fumbles to sit down at the long glass table, hearts are starting to pound faster from outside the room and the growing vibration of frantic voices slowly rises up through him like a shock wave. Matt smiles and nods his head in agreement to whatever the man in front of him said but actually, it’s the thought of Elektra that brings up the smile.

She knows that Roxxon will track down the IP address of the hacker, and so she heads to an old apartment of her father’s. It’s not in her name anymore, she doesn’t need them to know it’s her. It would cause to many problems.

Everything is ready. Her suit is tucked away for easy access, and her sai are just in reach.

She wanders around the apartment barefoot. Waiting for the sound of the Yakuza to reach her ears.

It’s time for payback.

After his meeting was cut short by the panic settling within Roxxon, Matt lingers outside the building and listens in on the chaos ensuing. It’s only when he gets the information he needs, an address he knows deep down leads to Elektra, that he leaves.

It’s night by the time that Matt arrives at the apartment, the Yakuza aren’t yet close which means he has time alone with Elektra before the fight begins. That thought alone is enough for Matt to open the front door— unlocked for me, he thinks proudly.

“Honey, I’m home.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” She all but snarls. “And how did you find me? This building isn’t in my name.”

She’s glad her suit isn’t out in the open. She knows Matt couldn’t see it if she had it laying out, but knowing him, he’d figure out something was off.

Then again he must know something for him to be here in the first place.

“For once, be honest when you answer me, Matthew.”

“You’ve never been hard to find.” Matt almost laughs, still keeping an ear out for the goings on outside the apartment. He saunters past her, walking towards the empty kitchen as though he owns the place. In silence, Matt shifts a dark bag off his shoulder and puts it down on the counter.

“I’m plenty honest,” Matt turns around to face Elektra, his feet itching to walk closer. He’s never been good at keeping himself away, that was, after all, the reason why he had to leave the city entirely all those years ago. He was an addict and when faced with his drug of choice, it was difficult to say no. “I enjoyed your trick at Roxxon today. Them on the other hand? Not so much.”

“That was the goal.” She says with an unamused look.

“I don’t know why after all these years you decide you’re going to drop in whenever you feel like it, but I don’t like it.” She’s not lying. Him showing up in her life has thrown everything off kilter. “This isn’t a game Matthew.”

Especially when she plans to fight Yakuza tonight. No matter how good Matt was as a fighter in college, and how much better she’s sure he is now, she doesn’t want him here.

There has to be a part of her life he can’t touch.

“What’s in the bag?” Elektra nods a head towards it.

“Come on, Elektra,” Matt says before stalking towards her, waiting until they were close enough for him to lean in and whisper in his ear before continuing on, “we always were a good team.” He whispers, his warm breath against the shell of her ear.

He only pulls away when he hears the roaring of motorcycles a few blocks away. Without a second thought, he starts to strip from his suit. His jacket comes off first, he tosses it towards the kitchen counter and then loosens his tie around his neck. “You might want to get ready, they’ve found us,” Matt says as he starts to unbutton his shirt.

A part of her wants to kiss him when he whispers in her ear, but she pushes it away.

Though Elektra’s breath does hitch at the sight of Matt undressing. A sound she’s sadly aware he heard.

She swallows, then stalks out of the room in a fury.

She grabs her suit and slips it on. Zipping up the front and pulling up her cowl. She snatches her sai from their holders and returns. “When this over, you better tell me how you know about me.”

She hears a gunshot and scurries up into the rafters. Ready to fight.

“You can buy me breakfast tomorrow,” Matt grins and twirls his batons in each hand. Now fully changed and in his disguise, he hides himself and waits for the footsteps racing up the stairs to slow down and soon come to a halt.

When they kick down the door and enter, Matt listens in to the sound of Elektra’s heart— when he hears the anticipation and excitement rushing through her, it only makes him more ready to fight alongside her, finally together once more.

When the fight does truly begin, Matt throws himself into it fully. He loves every second, happily taking out each member of the Yakuza who tried to kill him. It was a kind of high he only received with one other person.

They knock out the Yakuza in ten minutes flat. Their bodies litter the floor, and Elektra steps over the one that tried to cut off her hand.

She walks over to Matt and pulls down her cowl. “Nice mask.” She glances at the Yakuza again. Making sure none are stirring.

She brushes against his shoulder as she goes to grab her clothes. “You coming or what?” She then shuts the front door in his face.

* * *

 Sat in the booth of some diner, Matt flirts with the waitress aimlessly as she tends to their order. He rests his hand across her wrist and thanks her as she lays his meal on the table and pours them both a coffee each. He might not be able to see, but he senses the glare coming from across the table as the waitress practically skips away.

“You’re sure you’re not hungry?” Matt asks with his mouth full, twirling his fork between two fingers leisurely as he had done with his batons earlier. 

“Yup.” Her tone is clipped and her gaze fiery.

Matt has always been a shameless flirt, and it seems that hasn’t changed.

“Are you going say how you know about me? Or do I have to guess?” She takes a sip of her coffee. Tired from staying up late.

“And don’t talk with your mouth full Matthew. It’s disgusting.” Elektra knows he’s doing it to irritate her, but she takes the bait anyway.

“Do you want to guess? That might be fun,” Matt smiles, knowing full well he was pushing Elektra’s buttons. It wasn’t malicious or to bring back bad memories, in fact, there had been once a time where she liked the teasing he was so practised at.

“You were on the news and I recognised the description,” He begins before he can annoy Elektra anymore, “they said you were five four with long dark hair. Oh, and a guy on the radio said you had an ass to die for, so I was pretty sure then it was you.” Matt takes a long sip of his coffee and brushes his foot up against Elektra’s under the table. “The way they talk about your fighting? There’s no one else it could have been.”

Elektra lets out an unamused snort, an attempt to hide the warmth now spreading through her body from his foot brushing against her.

“I guess I’ll have to hide myself better.” She rests her head against the vinyl booth and drinks him in. He has a glow to his skin he only has after a fight, and she can’t help but find it alluring.

“Why did you do what you did? That night?” There was a time when his teasing would’ve been fun, but now she can’t trust him because of what’s happened in the past, and she wants to know why what happened, occurred.

She’s determined to get answers while he’s in front of her.

“Which night are you referring to? We spent many nights together.” Matt says, knowing full well what Elektra was referencing. He wants to see her crack, to stop acting so unbothered by his presence as though all they went through together was merely a bad break up, something many people went through.

He picks at the food on his plate and acts seemingly obvious to what she was talking about, happy to dance around the topic for as long as possible because while he didn’t want to admit it, there was some guilt lingering.

“Oh fuck off Matthew. You know what night I’m referring too.” She lowers her voice to a near growl. “Stop dancing around the subject.”

That night was one of the worst of her life. Their breakup shattered her and she deserves answers. She needs answers.

“If you think bringing up our sexual escapades will stop me from questioning you, you’re wrong. I’m going to dig and dig and dig until I get the truth. You can count on that.” She lowers her voice and digs her filed nails into the back of his hand.

“I’d expect nothing less,” Matt says after a few moments of silence, letting the venom in Elektra’s voice sink in and the atmosphere settle. He holds back from yanking his hand away, instead lets her press down harder until his pale skin has red indentations marking it.

When he does pull his hand back, he cradles it within the other, thoughtfully stroking his other thumb across the skin now flushing red.

“You were a rich college girl who needed something unexpected and new, I gave that to you and you loved every second.” He loved it too, that wasn’t a lie. None of it was, not really. “That night, I was doing something for us. I needed to know what you were capable of, believe it or not, it was all out of love.”

“ _All out of love?_ ” Elektra hisses. “You wanted me to kill a man.” She lowers her voice so no one else can hear. “It didn’t matter how good of a fighter I was, I needed to be able to kill? Is that what you’re saying?”

A spiteful part of her revels in the marks she’s e left on the back of his hand.

“I was a bored rich girl, and yes, I liked how spontaneous our relationship was. I enjoyed pushing boundaries, but you took it too far that night Matthew.”

“I didn’t make you kill him, did I?” Matt asks and for the first time since arriving in Elektra’s apartment, he sounds irritated and no longer pleased with their back and forth. “No, I took care of that for you. Your hands are still clean, so why after all these years are you still so angry?”

Matt’s jaw clenches as the waitress from before comes over to the table and asks if either of them want a refill of their coffee. With his nicest voice, he politely says declines and waits for her to walk away before speaking again.

“What is it you’re holding onto, huh? Is it that you wanted to kill him but couldn’t, or that I was capable of killing him?”

The part of her that’s been in pain since he left likes seeing him irritated. It’s not fair that she’s the only one that’s been upset since his return.

“I’m holding onto the fact that you abandoned me with a cooling body. I’m not, nor have I ever been, envious of you for being able to kill him.” And it’s true. There have been times where she’s come close to killing and has sometimes regretted not doing so afterwards, but that night isn’t on the list.

He wanted her to kill a random rich man. Though a probable sleaze and a possible criminal, but there was nothing she could ever find that said Al Marino deserved the bloody death he received.

“Trust me, Matthew, I’ve never been jealous of you for being able to detach when you beat someone bloody.”

“That’s not what I mean, Elektra.” While he hadn’t been ignorant enough to assume the topic wouldn’t be brought up at all, Matt cringes at the memory of leaving Elektra in that house, a bloody corpse tied to a chair alongside her. “You thought you knew me better than anyone, you felt so special being the only person who truly got to see me and then suddenly, that’s all bullshit because I killed a man who in all honestly, deserved it. That’s what hurt most, right? The betrayal?”

It feels as though years upon years of frustration and pain are desperate to be let out, a dam breaking and flooding the whole city but Matt manages to keep his cool. He loosens the tie around his neck and takes another sip of coffee.

“I did what I did because I had to. It wasn’t meant to end how it did and I didn’t set out to hurt you.” He gives a brief shrug, “Not that it matters.”

“That’s the thing Matthew, you didn’t have to kill him. It wasn’t like you were defending yourself. You brought me to that house with murder in mind.” She begins to play with her gold bracelets. A nervous habit since she was young.

“It was a betrayal because I thought I had finally found someone that actually understood me, and I understood in return. Then you shot it all to hell.”

Elektra looks away as the years of pain slowly begin to creep around her neck like a vice.

“You know what’s saddest about all of this? I probably would’ve taken you back if you hadn’t fled.” She confesses against her better judgement.

A few soothing and reassuring words would’ve had her falling back into his arms. She loved him that much.

Matt scoffs and tucks his arms across his chest. It was an argument that had been needed for a long while, he had kept his feelings about the whole ordeal secret ever since and so when he left that night without a goodbye, he was truly leaving everything behind.

“Really? After watching me slit a man’s throat you would have come home and slept in the same bed as me? Kissed me goodnight?” He laughs, cold and defensive, “You weren’t a murderer and you couldn’t have spent your life with one, so don’t you dare suggest that leaving was the wrong thing for me to do. Every single thing I did that night was for you, because I loved you.”

“Guess we’ll never know.” She says with a weak shrug, though she does know. _She would’ve taken him back._

Elektra glances down at her phone and sees the time. “I have to be going soon, so if there’s anything else you want to say, say it now.”

She takes a sip from her now cold coffee and makes a noise of disgust at the taste. “And also, I’d much appreciate it if you kept my little secret to yourself. Can’t help anyone if I get arrested for vigilantism.”

Matt’s quiet for a few moments, taking in the thought of all the things they could have been together. Then, he switches back on the charm, his own defence mechanism.

“There’s a gala taking place tomorrow night. I know there’s information there about Roxxon and the Yakuza that I think you’ll find valuable, especially since you’ve grown to like my city so much.” He smiles, it’s tight and almost genuine. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Wear something revealing, we might need the distraction.” And like that, he gets up from the booth, gets his cane out in front of him and begins to leave.

“Oh, and thanks for breakfast.”

Elektra glares in his direction before getting up and leaving. “See you then batboy.” Anything to hurt Roxxon is music to her ears.

* * *

To be petty, she finds out where he’s staying and sends a car to pick him up. She specifically wears a dress with a high collar, though it does have a slit on the side so she can fight if it comes to that.

She greats him with an overly cheery demeanour as he sits down beside her. “Ready?” Her voice is preppy and girly. An obvious annoyance tactic.

Matt gets in still fussing with his bow-tie, not a usual stable of his wardrobe and it’s obvious by the crookedness he eventually settles on. He takes a moment to try and sense what Elektra’s wearing, only able to get a feel of what the fabric sounds like against her skin but that’s plenty good enough for him.

“Of course, sweetheart,” Matt says with a smile, happy to be using his preferred nickname for Elektra again. “So, would you like to hear the plan or shall we just wing it, like the good ‘ole times?”

“I’d like to hear the plan instead of going in blind. No pun intended.” She sends him a charming smile as she reaches up and fixes his bow tie.

Her blood hums at him calling her sweetheart, but she doesn’t let her cheeks flush. Not this time.

“I try not to run head first into things without a plan anymore.” She finds herself relaxing around him, and it’s almost like all the years spent apart never happened.

He waits until Elektra finishes fixing his tie before starting to explain the plan, waiting as to enjoy the short moment of intimacy. There’s a hunger deep within him that only sets alight when she’s close, close enough to reach out and touch but he doesn’t.

Matt explains how they’re going to pickpocket a key card from one of the employees and use it to get onto the secret floor of the building. Once there, they need to find the ledger detailing all of the illegal goings on within Roxxon.

“Expose the findings however you like, I imagine you’d like to be rid of your father’s business by now. I’ll use it as leverage for my case and then all done. I’ll leave once it’s over and you can happily deal with the aftermath.”

“Deal.” She says without any emotion, though the thought of him leaving does bring her sadness.

They enter the party arm in arm. She throws her jacket at a server, then heads for the bar. “Macallan neat. Mezcal tequila.” She orders as she eyes Stan Gibson. He’s the one with the keycard they need.

She takes a sip of her drink and unknowingly leans closer to Matt. “How long do you think we have once we get the card?” Elektra lowers her voice as she takes in the security watching Stan.

They’ve realized their weak link. It seems this will be more interesting than they originally thought.

Matt smiles as he fumbles for his drink, not missing how even after all these years, Elektra still remembered something so small as what he liked to drink. He takes a sip while taking in the room, each individual smell, sound and taste lingering in the air and helping him to paint a picture of his surroundings.

“Depends how careful we are.” He responses, turning his head as to mutter in Elektra’s direction. He lingers for a few seconds, knowing that if anyone were to be looking at them, Matt would simply look like a man wishing to be close to his lover in a crowded room. They weren’t wrong.

It doesn’t take a genius plan to get Stan in a vulnerable position, Matt was fond of playing the vulnerable blind man, it made it all the more satisfying when he dropped the act and heard the heart of his victim drop in realisation. After accidentally spilling his drink all across Stan’s suit, Matt flashes a smile in Elektra’s direction before following after him.

“Smart man.” She mutters. Hoping he’ll hear her over all the noise.

She waits a few minutes before meeting him outside the men’s bathroom.

Matt flashes her the keycard and they head to the thirteenth floor. Adrenaline pumping through their blood.

“Come on.” Elektra’s voice takes on a sultry tone as they head to Mr Hirochi’s office.

Matt bites his tongue as to avoid saying it out loud, but God, he missed this. Sure, they might not have ever done something quite so dangerous back in college but they spent plenty of time break into places they weren’t supposed to be— a memory of their first time at his gym flashes across his mind at the sound of Elektra’s deliberate sultry voice.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Matt says as they’re walking down the corridor, still keeping an ear out for any oncoming security, “but it sounds like you might just be enjoying this.”

“That’s for me to know, and for you to dot dot dot.” She teases as they turn a corner. Getting caught up in the rush of memories and adrenaline.

They slip into Hirochi’s office, and Elektra heads for the desk and riffles through it.

No ledger.

She sifts nearby drawers and cabinets, but still no ledgers.

“I thought you said the ledger was in his office? I haven’t found a thing.” Nerves and frustration start to creep into her voice.

Roxxon most likely knows they’ve been breached again, and it’s only a matter of time before guards barge into this office.

Matt shushes her as he picks up on the sound of an electrical current running somewhere within the room. He brushes past her and walks across to the opposite wall, pressing his fingers to it and feels for the current hid in the walls.

When he finds the end of the current hiding behind the bookshelf, he starts to fiddle with everything on display until finding the one odd thing out. A secret room is revealed as Matt twists around the key.

“I’m a genius,” he giddily proclaims before hurrying into the room, sensing that Roxxon were already aware of their security breach.

“Show off.” Elektra teases as she pushes past him. She opens the drawers and spots the ledger. “Got it! Let's go.”

They race back out of the office and head for the elevator. She pushes the down button but nothing happens. “Come on.” She hits it twice more, still nothing.

“Fuck.” She swears.

The lights in the hallway dim and all exits save one, have gates come down and block them off.

“They know we’re here.”

“Congrats,” Matt says before reaching out and grabbing Elektra’s wrist, tugging her away from the elevator and instead back down the hallway. “There are four security details coming, guns and all. We take care of them first and then get out.”

He pulls her into an empty room, large enough for a fight even if that wasn’t the design purpose. He lets go of Elektra and ducks down onto the floor, one hand steadying himself and feeling for the vibrations of oncoming footsteps.

Elektra reaches down and pulls on her dress slit. The silk rips and reveals more of her lean thigh.

She crouches down beside him and waits. Knowing it’s only a matter of time before the guards find them.

The door bangs open a moment later and they pounce. It’s easy to take down the guards. It seems this group knows how to use shotguns, but not how to fight. At least not like Matt and her.

She leans against the large glass window and catches her breath. “And how do you plan to get us out of here? I’d rather not die tonight.”

Matt breathes out a laugh, enamoured to once again be fighting alongside Elektra. He walks the few steps over to the window and slouches beside her, panting softly himself.

“I have an idea, not sure you’ll like it though.” He wasn’t about to admit he’d been hoping for this outcome ever since Elektra agreed to help him on this mission, that would be pushing it a little too far. “They’re going to find us, all the exits are covered now so we’re only getting out through them.”

“We can either fight our way through them, most likely getting shot in the process or… we pretend to be drunken attendees. They find us and we act like tipsy lovers who had just been trying to find some privacy. It’s not like they’ll suspect the blind guy of all this.” He gestures to the bodies lying around them.

“True, but they’ll still be suspicious on how we ended up on the thirteenth floor. I spotted an emergency exit to the twelfth floor that didn’t look blocked. We go down there and do your drunk act.” She’s desperate to get out of here.

She pokes her head out the door and scans for any guards. “Okay, we’re good.” She grabs his hand without thinking, and guides him to the exit she spotted earlier.

They quickly tiptoe down the stairs and enter the next floor. Elektra walks ahead and spots an empty office.

She slips in and jumps on the glass table in the centre. “How do you want to do this?”

“Someone’s eager,” Matt lingers near the door, fingers twitching and head tilted left as he listens in for any guards. He doesn’t want to touch her until he has to, in many ways it feels like an addict returning to their drug of choice, once he gets his hands on her then that’s it, the relapse has already started.

When he hears the guards coming up the stairs to their floor, he walks over to Elektra while unbuttoning the first four buttons on his shirt, quickly shedding from his blazer too.

“Just act like you really want me, okay?” Matt’s voice is low as he places his hands on Elektra’s hips, tucking his head down to her ear, “like you had no other option but to drag me up here and get me to fuck you.”

Without another thought, she grabs his pants and pulls them down. “You looked too put together.” She explains while fighting against the lust that’s swirling inside her.

She shifts and brings herself closer to him. She gazes up him from beneath her lashes.

 _Just one taste_. She thinks as she leans up and kisses him.

Her hand snakes down and grabs his ass, while the other goes up into his hair. Her legs curl around his waist.

One of Matt’s hands snake up Elektra’s thigh, up the slit she ripped in her dress. It wasn’t as though it had been long since he last touched a woman like this, he had plenty of women throughout the years whom he enjoyed plenty but none of them came close to Elektra. Touching her again feels like being set on fire, being reignited after years of being left cold.

“Make some noise,” he resists saying “for me” afterwards despite wanting to hear her moan more than anything. He’s thought about it too often, the nights they spent together echoed around his mind during sleepless nights in cities he’d grown to hate. He makes the kiss dirty, licking across her bottom lip before slipping his tongue into her mouth.

She moans loudly as his tongue enters her mouth. Her hand bringing his head closer.

She resists the urge to slip a hand inside his boxers and find the hard-on she’s sure is growing.

Elektra nips his lip as she pulls his body snug against her own. “Matthew.” She sighs against his lips as his hand slides further up her leg.

She breaks the kiss and peppers love bites across the base of his throat.

She won’t be the only one making noise tonight.

The guards burst into the room and take Matt by surprise, he was so focused on Elektra, on her hands roaming her his body and her lips against his throat that when they disrupt the moment, it no longer feels like an act.

Matt lets go of Elektra and plays the part, acting incredibly flustered to have been caught and desperate to just hurry up and leave. He grabs his jacket and holds it in front of him, hiding his obvious arousal from the guards as they whip off his glasses and check if he is, in fact, blind.

Elektra lets out a fake drunken squeal as she jumps off the table. She fumbles for her things as she watches them check over Matt.

“He’ll make a big donation. He’s very rich.” She slurs as a guard pushes her towards Matt.

“Get out.” One orders as she grabs Matt’s arm. Leaning into him in a fit of giggles.

They keep up the act until they get into one of the few working elevators. Once the door closes, Matt sighs in relief and slumps up against the back wall. After a few seconds, he starts to redo his shirt buttons, his pants now pulled up but still unzipped.

“That worked out better than expected,” he says, the sound of Elektra sighing his name playing over and over again in his head. “I’d say we were pretty convincing, must have been all the practice.”

“Mhmm.” She doesn’t agree aloud, but she knows he’s right. “We should probably keep up the drunk act until we reach my car. For consistency.”

The elevator doors ding open, and she pulls him out after her. Once again playing the role of a rich drunk socialite.

She shushes several people talking, then drops her shoes, (though that was an accident). She runs back for them and lets out a delighted squeal at Matt’s huff of amusement.

Elektra links their arms and they briskly but tipsily, walk down the stairs. Ignoring the stare of onlookers.

By the time they are out of the building, the panic inside looking for the intruders has only gotten more intense. The car Elektra had called for them sat outside and Matt opened her door, waiting till she was inside before closing it and getting in himself.

For a few moments, Matt forgets why they were even there in the first place. It simply feels like the sort of thing they used to do, sneaking into parties they weren’t invited to or breaking into public property and leaving their mark.

“We didn’t get to dance,” Matt comments casually as the car starts to drive off, heading back towards the apartment he was renting.

Elektra doesn’t respond as she reaches forward and grabs his face. Pulling him into a searing kiss.

Tonight has made all the feelings she’s been feeling since his return more intense, and she needs to have him. Even only if for a night.

She crawls into his lap and once more snakes her fingers into his hair. Revelling in the feel of their bodies pressed together once more.

While Matt can’t say he’s surprised that she finally broke, that was after all what he had been hoping for, the urgency in which Elektra grabs him is certainly a surprise.

Matt’s hands come around to grab at her ass, pulling her even closer and grinding her across his half hard cock. He kisses her like it’s the only thing he knows how to do, hungry and eager and in no way shameful for his desire.

“You’re spending the night.” It’s not a request. Elektra can say no if she wants, Matt will respect her decision but right now, he knows what she wants and is more than happy to give it to her.

“Of course.” She mummers as she returns his hungry kisses. Delighting in the feel of his hands cupping her ass.

Her nimble fingers find that his pants are still unzipped, and slip inside his silk boxers. Grabbing his cock.

She nips at his shoulder before placing feather light kisses to his neck. “Make me not regret this.” She says quietly as she kisses the corner of his mouth.

“Whatever you want,” Matt breathes through a groan, letting his head fall back against the seat as Elektra works her hand over his cock, “anything you want, sweetheart.”

Matt slips his hand between Elektra’s legs, pressing over her clit with two fingers through the dampening material of her panties. He wants to fuck her right there, just slide her panties to the side and make her come with his cock before they even get back to his apartment.

“Don’t hold back.” She breathes with a sigh as his fingers press against her through her panties.

If they keep going at this rate, they’ll both come before they even reach his place.

She wants it to last as long as possible. Elektra doesn’t know if she’ll ever have him again after tonight.

Then again, she’s never been good at patience.

“Do you want me to suck you now, or wait till we get to your place?” She asks as she nudges his cock into view.

“Christ,” Matt wipes his hand across his face before taking his glasses off, tossing them onto the empty seat beside them. “Now, I want your mouth around me now.” He’s happy to return the favour when they got back to his place but right now, all he can think about is Elektra’s mouth wrapped around his cock.

Before Elektra can do anything, he slips his fingers past her panties. He brushes over her clit for a moment, practically tasting her arousal in the air.

“You’re so wet, fuck— you really want to suck my cock, huh?” He asks, wanting to hear Elektra admit she wants him. For all he knows, this is the last time he’ll get to have her like this. Matt needs to know that she wants this as much as he does.

She knows he wants to hear her beg. Hear her plead for it. For once she’ll do it without a fight.

It’s been too long since they've been together like this, and she doesn’t want to play any games. She just wants to taste him.

“I want to suck your cock so badly.” Elektra accidentally knocks the ledger to the floor as she leans over, but she pains it no mind.

Her tongue darts out and swirls around his cock, while her fingers rub against his balls.

Matt shudders and tilts his head back, his eyes close as he reaches down to push Elektra’s hair away from her face, bundling it in a loose ponytail within his fist.

“God, I missed you,” He says softly, almost sweet and blissful. He meant to say that he missed her mouth but this is equally as true, maybe more so. With his other hand, he feels around Elektra’s mouth, stretched with his cock. He groans and trails them down her throat, not choking her but laying his hand there to feel her swallow around him.

She loves the feel of his hand around her neck. Strong and firm. Holding her in place.

She’s determined to make him come before they reach his place. Wanting to see him writhe with pleasure on the backseat of her car.

Elektra works and works until she rips an orgasm out of him. She removes her lips from his cock as he catches his breath, and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Do you like that Daddy?” She asks coquettishly.

Matt reaches forward and tugs Elektra back onto his lap before kissing her, tasting himself on her lips. His cock twitches with interest at the use of his old favourite nickname, not quite able to get hard again but by the time he had her laid out on his bed, he’d be ready again.

He dips his hand between her legs again and rips the flimsy material of her panties, stuffing them into his pocket.

“Daddy loved it, I bet you looked so pretty with my cock down your throat.” He says as he begins to fuck her with two fingers, keeping her on the edge but not letting her come. No, he wants to be inside her with his cock when that happens.

Elektra gasps in delight as he fucks her with his fingers. Her own going back into his hair.

“Oh, Daddy.” She moans and wraps her legs tighter around his waist.

She grinds and presses down against his fingers. Loving the feel of him inside her.

“I can’t wait to have your cock inside me, Daddy.” She exhales as the car comes to a stop.

As the car slows to a stop, Matt pulls his fingers out from Elektra and sucks them clean. He moans at the taste of her, only savouring it for so long before quickly starting to get himself decent. He tucked himself back into his pants and fumbled for his glasses.

“Come on,” he says before giving one last chaste kiss before escorting Elektra out from the car and into the building. His apartment was on one of the highest floors yet he still chooses the stairs, wanting to keep Elektra waiting for as long as he could until she was begging.

When his front door opens, she pushes him inside and shoves him up against the wall.

“Fuck me, Daddy.” She breathes. All of her pride forgotten in the heat of passion.

Her hands quickly find his belt again and drops his pants back to the floor.

“Daddy I need you. Make me come.” She begs between kisses.

Matt wraps an arm around Elektra’s waist and picks her up with ease, turning around so she is pressed up against the wall instead. He buries his face in her neck and smothers her with kisses, purposefully leaving marks that will last after he’s gone.

“Fuck, you’re so desperate for it,” Matt doesn’t admit how good it feels to be wanted. He instead rubs his cock across her clit, grinning against her neck as he feels her jolt. No longer able to wait, Matt positions himself and pushes in, muffling a moan against Elektra’s shoulder.

“No one’s filled you up this good since me, mhm?” He asks, tightening his hold on Elektra as she wraps her legs around his waist.

“No Daddy.” She exhales as she takes in the feel of his cock filling her up. “No one is as good as you Daddy.”

She digs her nailed into the meat of his ass as he thrusts inside her. She rests her head against the wall and moans. “Daddy!” She squeals as he hits her G spot and she comes.

Elektra’s body goes limp, but Matt holds her in place up against the wall.

A thrill rushes through Matt at the confession that he’s still the best Elektra’s had. It could easily just be a heat of the moment type deal but he knows what she sounds like when she’s lying, and that wasn’t it.

After giving a little time for Elektra to recover, Matt carefully pulls out and puts her down, still keeping his arm around her just in case she stumbled over.

“Get on the bed,” he says before tilting her chin up to kiss her, “I’m not done with you yet.”

Elektra reaches up and grabs the hook holding her dress up. It falls to the ground in a pile, and she steps out of it.

He guides her to the bedroom and she lays down. Legs spread and back arched.

“How do you want me, Daddy?” She asks as she reaches down and runs a finger across her clit. Sending a shiver down her spine.

She lets out a soft gasp and runs another finger over her hardened nipples. Knowing it’ll leave Matt rock hard and dripping once more.

Once Elektra’s on the bed, Matt starts to finish undressing himself, stripping from his shirt and tie. He kneels on the bed, a knee each side of Elektra’s body, grabs both her hands and positions them above her head. With his tie, he easily binds her wrists together.

With her body totally exposed and on display for him, Matt starts with running his hand across Elektra’s stomach, then he moves up to her breasts and roughly tweaks each nipple. It almost feels as though he is relearning her body but in reality, he’d never forgotten it.

Matt leans over her body and kisses her once again, positioning himself at her pussy once more before pushing in. If this is to be their last time together, then he wants to be as close as possible, her chest against his and their foreheads pressed together.

“Daddy.” She moans as he enters her. Her lips brushing against his.

She’s never let another man be dominate in bed since Matt, and as he tied her wrists she realized how much she missed it. How much she’s missed him.

Elektra lifts her legs and hooks them around his waist. She kisses him deeply as he starts to thrust into her. Looking into his beautiful unfocused brown eyes.

She lets herself get lost in pleasure as his thrusting gets harder and quicker.

The words “I love you” are on the tip of Matt’s tongue but he swallows them back down, not for his sake but for Elektra’s. Maybe it’s just old feelings being rehashed, memories of the many times they’d found themselves intertwined like this before that were making him want to say things he knew he’d regret.

“You feel so good,” he chooses to say instead, burying his nose behind her ear where he remembered she smelt the sweetest. While propping himself up on one arm, he slips the other hand between them and rubs over her clit.

“Fuck.” Her hips jerk at him rubbing her clit.

She arches her back and pressed her breast against his naked chest. “Daddy please, I need to come. Make me come.” She begs. Her legs even tighter around his waist.

“I’ll make you feel good Daddy too. Just make me come.”

Hearing Elektra beg was enough to make him come, groaning into the crook of her shoulder as his orgasm took over. He continues to fuck her through it, slowing down the rocking of his hips but increasing the pressure he was applying on her clit.

“That’s it, baby, I want you to come for me,” Matt says gruffly, licking up the column of her throat before enveloping her into a kiss. “Come for Daddy.”

She shudders around him and comes with a loud groan. “Daddy!”

Her chest heaves as she kisses him. She jerks her hips up to meet him as she sighs.

“I want you to taste me, Daddy.” Elektra needs to feel his tongue inside her. “Lick me clean.”

Even if he hadn’t promised to do whatever she wanted, Matt was more than happy to finally make a home between Elektra’s legs again. After pressing a quick kiss to her forehead, Matt starts kissing his way down her body. He stops at her breasts and licks at her nipples, sucking them for a few moments before continuing on his journey down.

Once between her legs, Matt spreads them wide and puts them over his shoulders, Elektra’s feet digging into his shoulder blades. His mouth waters as he takes his first lick, being mindful that Elektra is still selfish but also filled with his own selfish desire.

“Your tongue feels so good Daddy.” She arches her back once more. Her wet hard nipples facing the ceiling.

She wiggles down the bed slightly to give him better access. Letting her legs dangle over his shoulders.

Elektra itches to touch him, but her bound hands stop her. “Mhmm Daddy, just like that.” She grinds her pussy against his mouth instead.

The words ‘I love you’ nearly slip out of her lips, but she catches herself. “I love it.” She says instead.

Matt hums against her in response, licking inside of her and tasting his own cum. Part of him wants to reach up and untie Elektra’s hands, let her slip her fingers into his hair and keep him pressed against her pussy.

However, for the moment she is his, completely and only, he chooses to instead revel in that fact and leave her hands bound.

“You taste so good,” Matt speaks against her pussy, placing a messy kiss to her clit, “sweetest I’ve ever had, no one compares.”

Her cheeks flush at his words. Pride rushes through at his words. Hearing what’s unsaid. ‘You’re the best I’ve ever had.’

Her eyes roll back as he continues to eat her out. Her breath hitches as she begins to edge towards her orgasm.

One final lick does her in, and she contorts her body as she squirts all over Matt’s face.

Matt pins Elektra’s hips down on the bed as she comes, surprised that he got her to squirt but stupidly proud of doing so. He keeps eating her out until she slumps down on the bed, he then takes to wipe his face clean on the sheets before crawling back up her body.

“That was so hot,” he says before kissing Elektra hard, untying her hands as he did so. “You’re incredible,” Matt could feel himself drifting further away from typical hookup language, wanting nothing more than to just praise Elektra in her entirety and tell her how much he missed he and regretted everything he did wrong.

Elektra leans forward and kisses him softly. Drained from their mind-blowing sex. “So are you Mr Murdock.” She gazes up at the ceiling and smiles a goofy grin.

She wiggles closer to him and drapes his arm across her middle. They lay on top of the sheets for a few moments before a thought crosses her mind.

“Did either of us grab the ledger when we left the car?” The fact that they might’ve forgotten something that important strikes her funny, and she resists the urge to start giggling.

“In my defence, I was a little preoccupied.” Matt presses a smile against his pillow, he traces small patterns across Elektra’s arm and thinks to himself how he would be happy to stay in the bed forever, with her by his side and the rest of the city outside vibrating with sound.

He picks Elektra’s hand up to his mouth and kisses the back of it before interlocking their fingers.

“We’ll get it back, but right now…” He turns to face Elektra, even though he can’t see her, “I’d like to fall asleep with you beside me…if you’re okay with that.”

“I’d like that.” She smiles softly as she takes in his face happy and content.

She turns and nestles her face in the crook of his neck. She breathes him in and places a small kiss to his throat. “Goodnight Matthew.”

She lazily trails a finger up and down his back until she falls asleep.

 


	2. give me that good love

Elektra wakes up, still nestled in Matt’s side. She thinks she should freak out or overreact that they slept together, but she doesn’t. Simply taking in the contentment on his face.

Her fingers brush a piece of his hair away, and she smiles.

When Matt does wake up, he’s tucked in beside a warm body, something he hasn’t felt in years. It only takes him a few moments to remember their adventure from last night and he smiles, then muffles a yawn into his pillow.

“Morning, sunshine,” he mumbles half into his pillow, perfectly content to stay cuddled up to Elektra for the rest of the day.

“Morning.” She leans over and brushes her lips against his. “Would you like some breakfast? I’m sure a lawyer like you has a busy day ahead.”

Her hand gently caresses his cheek as she remembers the ledger.

 _I’ll have to go over it after_.

Matt hums softly against Elektra’s lips, chasing after her as she pulls away to speak. It almost feels too good to be true, to have Elektra back in his arms and have everything be soft again. It feels right.

“The law can wait,” he leans over her, arms either side of her head before kissing her for real.

She wraps her arms around his torso and kisses him back. Her legs coming around his waist.

He plants a few kisses down her neck and she giggles.

The words are warm on his tongue, it’d be so easy to speak them, they’ve been true for a while after all. “ _I love you_ ,” that’s all he can think as he kisses down Elektra’s neck and to her breastbone. He doesn’t say it though, he can’t.

“Spend the day with me,” he says instead, “we’ll handle the ledger and the Yakuza when night falls.” Matt leaves soft kisses across Elektra’s breast, avoiding her nipple before kissing over where her heartbeat was the strongest.

“I’d like that.” She runs a hand through his hair. “But no killing. Remember that.”

She doesn’t want another murder to drive them apart.

“Mood killer,” he teases before leaning up and pressing a kiss to her nose, “but fine, we’ll play by your rules.”

Elektra sticks her tongue out and grins. “Now what do you want for breakfast? I have anything you want.”

“I can’t disagree with that,” Matt says, his hand stroking at Elektra’s thigh beneath the covers, knowing more than anything that he wants her. After being apart for so long, can he be blamed for not wanting to keep his hands to himself?

He kisses Elektra again, cradling her jaw within his hand and keeping her in place.

She melts into the kiss and run her hands down his back. They slip beneath the covers, and brushes against his cock that’s slowly growing hard.

“Hello there.” She says teasingly.

Matt presses a smile against Elektra’s cheek while he slips his hand between her thighs, dancing dangerously close to her pussy but stilling on her inner thigh.

“I missed you,” he admits, his voice earnest. Had they not had sex the night before then his words would still be true, he missed her long before he entered her apartment a few nights ago and he can only hope he no longer has to feel that. This time, he’ll get it right.

“I missed you too.” She smiles sweetly and kisses him. Her fingers going into her hair.

Elektra sighs as his hand comes closer to her pussy. Her head melting into the pillow.

Matt presses one last kiss to Elektra’s throat before wiggling out from next to her and instead going beneath the covers and between her legs.

He slots her legs open with ease, his bed-hair tickling Elektra’s thighs as he licks over her clit sweetly, nothing like the hunger that had driven them the night before. He wants to treat her sweetly, to remind her why she missed him and why above all, she should stay with him.

She arches her back and sighs again. Her hands going up into her own hair.

She gasps as he licks her. Moaning and worming around the bed. Her heels digging into the bed and her eyelashes flutter.

Her breathy moans fill the room as she stretches.

The sounds of Elektra’s moans were like poetry, Matt was certain he’d never heard anything sweeter or brought him more joy. He loves knowing that despite causing her pain all those years ago, he can do good too.

He wants every morning to be like this, to have Elektra naked on his sheets with his head between her thighs, the smell of sex still lingering from the night before. Matt groans against Elektra’s pussy and reaches down to touch himself as he continues to eat her out.

Her hands slip from her own hair and into his. Pulling and tugging to show him where she wants him.

“Daddy.” She moans. “Oh  _Daddy_.”

Matt lets Elektra use him to get what she wants, perfectly happy to be tugged around by his hair. He sucks at her clit as he strokes his cock, running his thumb across the head then moaning against her.

Her orgasm comes with a shudder. Her eyes roll back and her breathe quickens. Her body melting into the sheets.

She notices where his hand is as she pulls him into a kiss. “Would you like me to make you feel good too?”

“Mhm, if you’d be so kind,” Matt smiles against her lips before rolling onto his back and pulling Elektra on top of him. The taste of her was still fresh on his tongue as he slid his fingers through her hair and kissed her once more.

Elektra rides him slowly. Loving Matt writhing underneath her.

Her own hands coming around his body. Her knees on either side.

Matt moans and lays one hand on Elektra’s waist, the other trails up around to wrap around her neck. He feels like they tested the waters enough the night before for him to do this, to be able to feel each breath taken and moan let out.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he breathes out, running his thumb up and down Elektra’s throat.

Her own hand slips around his. Delighting in the feel of his hand around her throat. She gasps with pleasure and picks up her speed. Her knees digging into the bed.

Soon enough, Matt comes in Elektra for the second time in twenty four hours, the hand on her waist digs into the meat of her hips and his jaw clenches as he bites back a groan. 

He slips his hand away from her neck and instead tangles it through her hair, pulling her down for a filthy kiss.

Elektra groans against his lips. His cum dripping out of her. Her fingers clutching his body.

She reluctantly breaks the kiss, and rests her forehead against his. “Now how about some breakfast?”

Before answering her question, Matt presses a few kisses across her face, namely on her cheeks, nose and eyelids. He rests their foreheads together with his hands cupping her cheeks, smiling dopily to himself.

“I’d love that.”

After she sets Matt’s plate down in front of him, she grabs the ledger, (that her driver brought up) and reads it aloud. “Drugs, human trafficking. You name it, it’s in there. But there’s two pages I can’t read. It’s in some sort of code.”

Matt hums in acknowledgement as he eats, pressing his foot up against Elektra’s ankle absentmindedly.

“Okay, so we find out who coded it and make them flip it back— simple,” he says as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. He smiles before tucking back into his breakfast.

She blushes as he brushes against her ankle, and looks back at the ledger. “I assume we won’t be meeting them as ourselves, am I right?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he teases, sensing the flush of heat to her cheeks. It feels right to be back like this; a team, working together and enjoying each other’s company. He was going to be true to his word, that once he got what he wanted and Elektra no longer could stand him, then he would have left.

Now? Maybe Hell’s Kitchen can be a home for him once more.

She sticks her tongue out and grins. “I should be saying this isn’t about fun, but I gotta admit I like a good time.”

She takes a sip of her coffee. “I’m sure I can pull some strings and find who we need by evening.”

“That’s my girl,” Matt says proudly, practically vibrating in his seat at the thought of getting to kick ass again with Elektra. 

She always had been the best fighter he knew and it turns out that she’d only gotten better with age. He could maybe live with her disinterest for killing, only if she could look over his distaste in refraining.

After a few calls, she has the name and address. It’s a sleazy professor living in a high class Uptown apartment.

It has Yakuza written all over it.

“We’ve got a name. What time do you think we should go kick some ass?” Elektra drops into his lap, and puts her feet on his.

Matt slips his arms around Elektra’s middle and brings her closer, nuzzling his nose against her hair before pressing a kiss to her temple.

“We’ll wait until dark, then we can go put the fear of God into them,” he presses a smile to her cheek.

“Got it.” She nuzzles their noses and grins. Kissing him quickly.

The sleazy NYU professor won’t know what hit him. The Devil has a partner, and they’re reading to beat the city into shape.

By the time they suit up and head over to the professors house, Matt catches the sound of various prostitutes readying themselves to leave the apartment. He can’t say he’s surprised, the place smells like sex and alcohol, a stench only truly made by the pathetic.

He wants to kill the guy as he hears him talking to the women, degrading them and treating them like nothing but bodies. If he weren’t with Elektra, Matt would get what he wanted and let the professor find his death after a long fall from his apartment window. Why let a guy like that live, what’s he offering to the world? Matt bites his tongue as they ready themselves to move in.

As the professor leans down to snort cocaine, Elektra speaks from her spot on his gaudy couch. “Honey I’m home.” She drawls with a smirk.

He looks up in shock and reaches for his gun. Matt bats it away with a flick of the wrist.

He’s pushed towards the glass window, and Elektra shows him the ledger. “What’s it say? The code.”

When he refuses to speak, Matt pins him to the window and punches the glass, missing his head by a few inches. He keeps punching each time a whimper or beg comes from the professors mouth and finally, he gives in and Matt pushes him away from the cracked window.

It only takes a light pressure for the glass to shatter, revealing a nice place to fall if he really felt like letting the professor meet his maker. He doesn’t, because of Elektra, but he thinks about it.

Elektra grabs the professor by collar and throws him on his couch. He misses it and hits his head. A gash appearing on his forehead.

“They’ll kill me!”

“And we’ll make you beg for killing." She throws the ledger in front of him.

He meekly looks over the code and begins to write. “Use this, and you’ll get all the info you need.”

Matt thinks about Elektra’s threat as he passes her the ledger to read. He knows her threat is empty but still, there’s something he loves about the cat and mouse game they have going on with the professor. He wonders what it would be like to actually act on her words, to be powerful together.

They learn about the shipments at the rail yard and after that, there’s no use for the professor. Matt lets Elektra knock him out before they leave and head out to their new stop.

“Well, that was fun.”

“Mhmm.” She hums as she inspects the various train carts. “Can you hear what’s inside?” She turns to face him. Ponytail swishing as she moves.

“They’re all empty,” Matt says after a moment, head tilted slightly as he walks along the tracks. He stops eventually in front of one of the carts, quietly trying to figure out what he could sense inside. “This one, there’s something inside. It’s completely packed, no space left.”

Elektra’s impulsiveness gets the better of her, and she pulls the cart door open. Wanting to see what’s inside.

Layers and layers of dirt come pouring out. Coating Matt and Elektra in the process.

“It’s dirt.” She’s confused. She expected drugs or maybe even people, but not dirt.

“It’s a trap,” Matt says as he catches the sound of fast approaching footsteps, guns and everything accompanying. “We need to move, now.”

He pulls at Elektra’s arm and they hurry out of view, away from the tracks and ready themselves for the fight.

The Yakuza come in droves. Scurrying around the various carts. Elektra and Matt lie in wait, and when the first group rushes by, they pounce.

She grabs one by the throat and throws him down. Dodging the bullet fired at her. She snatches the gun from his hands, and hits him with the butt of it. Knocking him unconscious.

It’s only once the Yakuza lay in tatters around them that Matt stumbles against a wall to catch his breath. There are more coming but he can spare a few seconds. Instead of checking himself over, he listens in for any injuries on Elektra, any new fractions or blood oozing to the surface.

“You okay?” He asks after catching his breath.

She hisses when she touches the new mark made by a Yakuza’s blade. “Flesh wounds. That’s all.”

She leans beside him. “How many more?”

“Enough,” he says simply, catching maybe five or so more pairs of hurried footsteps heading towards them. He pulls Elektra in by her waist for a quick kiss before readying himself for yet another battle.

It’s hard and strenuous, but they take down the Yakuza one by one.

They use their guns against them as if they were Billy Clubs. Elektra punches several in the face, and gets sliced by a knife.

When Matt comes back around the corner, she wheezes. "Where were you?"

Matt kicks the last Yakuza member unconscious, resisting the urge to simply stomp his head into the ground and instead turned his attention back to Elektra. His eyebrows furrow beneath his mask as he listens to her groan in pain, he pulls one of his gloves off as he walks over.

“Is it bad?” He asks in relation to the slice decorating her arm, another on her neck. His hand glides down her side as he feels for any fractures, maybe some bruising but thankfully that’s all.

“Probably some light stitches.” She breathes and leans into his side. Trying to catch her breath. Her arm wrapped around his waist.

Matt practically peels Elektra out from her clothes when they make it back to his apartment. He finds the first aid kit hidden in the bathroom and ushers her towards the sink, needle and thread ready in the kit.

She leans over as he begins to stitch up her neck. “I guess I’ll never have short hair again?”

She can feel Matt’s breathe on her neck, but she doesn’t mind. It’s nice. Comforting.

“I prefer your hair long anyways,” Matt smiles and brushes Elektra’s hair out of the way as he finishes the stitches now decorating her neck. Thankfully the cut on her arm wasn’t too deep, just in need of some cleaning up and pressure applied. 

“You know, we make a good team.”

“We do.” They take a seat on her couch, as she applies pressure to her arm.

She takes in the various scars decorating his body. The night before she had be too taken with pleasure to notice them.

“That looks like it hurt.” Elektra reaches forward, and lightly traces a finger across the puckered scar above his hip.

“Don’t they all?” Matt queries with a smile before leaning back, stretching back so all his scars were fully on display. He bit the inside of his cheek as Elektra ran her finger across the old scar, fulled healed over by now but the scar tissue still sensitive.

“Can’t count them all,” he gestures up to the two scars above his chest, still red as though they were reasonably new, a year or two old. “There’s one on my back also, that one hurt like a son of a bitch.” 

Elektra takes his hand and slips it under her T-shirt, placing it on a months old scar. “This one almost killed me. Nobu thought I was putting my nose where it didn’t belong, and decided to put me out of commission.”

What happened with Nobu still haunts her. His screams as the fire consumed him. She could still hear him even when she went under water. Desperately trying to escape Fisk and his cronies, who were wanted to avenge their fallen ally.

Matt raises an eyebrow at the mention of Nobu but says nothing, not wanting to rock the boat when they’d finally found themselves in peaceful water. He thoughtfully stroke across the scar, wondering what other kinds of trouble she’d gotten herself into.

“What do you tell the people who see your scars?” Matt asks, keeping his hand still up Elektra’s shirt.

“Car accident.” No one has ever pushed farther once they see she isn’t willing to talk. “Then again, few have seen them.”

They sit for a few moments in peaceful silence, until Elektra decides to ask the question that’s been on her mind since that fateful night ten years prior.

“Where did you go? After?”

Matt’s silent for a few moments, both trying to work up the courage to be honest while also trying to recall the things he had long since blocked out. 

“As far away from you as I could,” He admits eventually, once the silence settles, “I didn’t expect to ever come back but…I guess we all have our weaknesses.”

All is silent again as Elektra leans forward and kisses him softly. “All that matters now is you’re back.”

She guides his hand down to her leg, where an ugly scar sits. “Can’t wear shorts anymore.” Her tone is light. Trying to rid the room of seriousness.

“You’ve been busy since college, huh?” Matt teases and glides his hand over Elektra’s thigh. It’d been ten years, he wasn’t surprised that she’d found herself in plenty of trouble, that was after all, one of the things he loved most about her. It was why he brought her to that house, because he believed they were the same.

“The city never sleeps, and apparently neither do I.” She grins as she rests her head against the back of his couch. Her fingers trailing up and down his leg.

“Do you have any idea what the Yakuza might be up too?”

He gives a tired shrug and stretches back out on the couch, his muscles aching and ready for rest. 

“Not sure, but I think we should be looking into construction projects around New York, figure out where all that dirt came from.”

Elektra nods, before getting off the couch and heading for his bedroom. She turns back and smiles. “You coming?” She asks with a tilt of the head, then sits on his bed, and climbs under the covers.

Curled up beside Elektra, his arms around her waist and his nose buried in her hair, Matt can’t recall a time where he felt more at peace. Everything seemed to be going so well, better than he’d ever planned and he can only pray that he doesn’t find another way to mess everything up.

The next day goes by uneventfully. Matt deals with his client, while she marks off construction sites of interest.

When night fall again, they suit up and head out. Ready for answers.

It doesn’t take long to get into Midland Circle, the guards outside are taken out with ease and inside they find themselves alone. What they find inside though, makes no sense at all.

“They’re digging a hole?” Matt’s feet brush the edge of the drop, he can’t get a sense of how far down it goes but it’s enough to know no one would survive the fall. 

Elektra digs into her satchel where she keeps her sai. She pulls out a flashlight. “Yeah, but I can’t tell how far it goes, can you?” 

She points it down the hole, and all she can see is darkness.

Matt takes the flashlight from her and throws it into the hole. They’re standing there waiting for a good long while before he hears it hit the bottom. Before he can say anything, he catches the sounds of footsteps and swords being drawn. Instinctively, he grabs Elektra’s arm and pulls her away from the hole.

“We’re not alone. Half a dozen, at least.” He whispers, tilting his head as he tries to listen in for heartbeats but catching none but their own. He knows who they are and how best to fight them, listen in to their weapons and track them that way.

Elektra draws her sai, and gets into a defensive position.

All is quiet for a moment, then droves of ninjas come from various corners of the room. They head for her and Matt, and hit them with a flurry of blows.

She dodges them, and hit several non lethally and knock them unconscious.

As she raises her sai to knock another one out, she spies three more warriors enter the room. One she recognizes. “ _Stick_?”

Her distraction is her downfall. The ninja sees an opening, and slices her stomach deep with his sword.

Stick’s entrance distracts Matt enough that he misses blocking Elektra’s attacker, he whips around and fights through the last few ninjas, leaving them on the brink of death before falling to his knees beside Elektra.

Of course it would be Stick’s arrival that would bring tragedy, that was after all what he always insisted on. Matt quickly but carefully scoops Elektra into his arms, shaking with adrenaline and anger but aware enough to know they needed to get out of there before Elektra dies surrounded by the Hand. 

She screams in pain as the poison enters her blood. Tears stream down her face as he carries her out.

“Matthew. Matthew.  _It hurts_.”

“I know, sweetie. I know,” Matt coos softly, stroking his thumb across Elektra’s cheekbone as Stick drives recklessly through the streets, the Hand still following after them. He slots his hand over the gash on her stomach to try and stop the bleeding.

It takes a lot of bickering but Matt eventually agrees to go back to Elektra’s apartment, no point in going to his own when he’s only been living there for a few days. They eventually rid their chasers from their tail and race across the city, Matt mumbling comforting words to Elektra the entire way.

She cries out as Matt places her on her bed. She can hardly speak, but she tries to mumble a few words. “Matthew, I love you.”

She can tell her death is near, and she’s going to say what she can before she goes.

With his hands stained with blood, Matt takes Elektra’s hand between his and holds it up to his mouth. He presses a kiss to her knuckles as he mumbles through a prayer, Stick working around him with some sort of concoction brewing.

He barely resists pouncing on Stick as he applies the anti-poison that leaves Elektra howling in pain. The only reason he didn’t was because he heard Elektra’s heartbeat slowly return to normal, once she’s passed out, Matt presses a tender kiss to her forehead before pushing Stick out of the room to confront him.

Elektra wakes up later to find it’s still night. She looks down at the bandages around her abdomen, then looks for Matt. When he’s nowhere in sight, fear grips her.

_My love confession scared him away._

Still she calls out for him. “Matthew.” She croaks. Her dry lips cracking.

Matt is in the room within seconds, standing up from the couch he’d anxiously been waiting on before rushing over to her bedroom. He closes the door despite knowing Stick will still be able to hear them and sits down carefully on the edge of the bed.

“How do you feel?” He brushes her hair away from her face before caressing her cheek, thankfully to feel the warmth returning instead of the frenzied heat.

“Awful.” She nuzzles her cheek against his hand.

For a moment she forgets the shock that lead to her near death, but when she remembers, panic crawls into her throat.

“Is he still here? Stick?”

Matt hesitates before answering.

“He is,” he says slowly, rubbing his thumb across Elektra’s cheekbones. “I’m going to make him leave, once you’re all better. It’ll be just us again, yeah?”

“How do you know him? What’s he to you?” She wants answers. Something isn’t right, and she needs to know why.

This is exactly what Matt didn’t want to happen, for the past to reemerge once again and ruin what he was trying to build. He didn’t want to lie, not anymore but the truth was far worse than anything he could fabricate.

“He found me at the orphanage, said he could help me realise that my blindness wasn’t a disability. I guess the nuns heard about his work with  _special children_ and thought he could help out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? When I told you he had trained me back when I was a kid?”

Young Elektra had had anger issues, and her dad thought it would be best to channel it into something.

Stick was one of her martial arts teachers until her dad realized he was stroking her violence, not taming it.

“Because I don’t like thinking back to that time.” It’s not a lie, but it isn’t the full truth either. “A lot of shit happened that I don’t talk about a lot, he’s just one of those things.”

Granted, Matt doesn’t like thinking about Stick. It’s difficult to admit to anyone yet alone yourself all the things you were manipulated into, and worse still, the things you did willingly. How do you explain that you were trained into being a killer but did so willingly?

“I understand Matthew, but I don’t want anymore secrets between us. Not if we’re going to be together for good.”

She reaches forward and caresses his cheek lovingly.

Matt turns and presses a kiss to her palm, running his hand hand comfortingly up and down her arm.

“I want that,” he does, and he’ll tell the full story if she asks but that doesn’t mean it’ll be willingly. If they’re going to be together, Matt believes he needs to keep the past a secret, he can’t see a future together for them otherwise. “But first, you need to rest.”

She lifts the edge of her comforter with a smile. “Will you lay with me until I fall asleep?”

Matt obliges with a smile, crawling into bed beside Elektra while being careful not to move her around too much and irritate her wound. As he holds her, he thinks of Stick in the other room and how to get rid of him, he won’t let him break them apart again. 

When she awakes again later, Matt is gone again. She doesn’t worry like she did earlier, instead trying to get out of bed to go to the bathroom.

As she half drags half walks her body out of her room,and into the hallway, she hears them talking, Stick and Matt. And Matt doesn’t sound happy.

“Elektra’s made you soft,” Stick sneers, clearly amused by Matt’s frustration, “you’re a warrior, Matty. You can’t live a life like this forever, not without her finding out what you really are.”

“I don’t need you anymore, Stick.” Matt shoves him towards the front door, “Elektra thinks I can change and I believe her. That’s all that matters.” He goes to open the door but Stick blocks his hand, chuckling to himself.

“You can’t change, and you can’t be with her. Look what happened, she’s half dead because of you— because you make her weak.” 

_Weak. Weak. Weak._

Words that Stick would tell her when she was young. Her hits were too weak. Her blocking was too weak. She was weak for flinching when punches hurt her wrists.

Now she hears him telling the words to Matt, and she hates it. Hates him.

“You let your guard down, she’s trying to change you, Matty. You failed before, doesn’t mean you have to fail now—” Before Stick can finish, Matt pushes him up against the wall, his forearm across his throat.

“Get out, before I kill you,” Matt hisses, pressing his arm hard enough against Stick’s throat to leave him gasping for air when Matt does eventually pull back.

Stick lets out a wheezy laugh as Matt opens the door for him, he leaves and Matt practically slams the door behind him.

“What is he talking about? What does he mean you failed before?” Elektra asks from the top of the stairs. Clutching the railing.

Matt snaps around at the sound of Elektra’s voice. His mouth is open but no words come out, he wants to be truthful but it’ll hurt more than anything. He wants to be good but he had never been that great at figuring out the right thing to do.

“His training,” Matt lies. “I didn’t want to fight with him. He’s just a crazy old man, always making up shit to manipulate people.”

Elektra takes in the look on his face. The panic when he realized she overheard.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Elektra…” Matt pleas, lingering at the bottom of the stairs, unable to take her running away if he were to come any closer. “We can’t do this right now, you should be resting.”

“You’re hiding something. Tell me what it is.” She demands. Leaning more against the rail in her weaken state. “If you do, I’ll rest.”

Matt agrees, only when he manages to get Elektra back into bed with him perched on the side once more. He’s clearly uncomfortable but after being caught in a lie, the only thing he can do is admit what he’s been hiding.

“After Stick found me at the orphanage, he began to train me, like he did with you. Eventually, he realised he needed more soldiers to fight his war and wanted you back.” Matt pauses, his jaw clenching as he makes himself continue on, “I broke into that party the night we met on purpose, he wanted me to distract you and bring you back to him.”

“So it was all a lie?” Tears prick at her eyes. Both from the pain and the betrayal.

“No, no it wasn’t a lie,” Matt grabs for Elektra’s hand, holding it tightly as though it would stop the feeling of her slipping out from his fingertips. “I fell in love with you, the one thing I promised him I would never do and he hates it even to this day.”

“He wanted to know you could kill, that you were capable of it. That’s why we went to that house that night. You’re not like him though, and you’re not like me. You’re better and that’s why I left.”

“I wish you had told me this earlier when I asked you, but I can see why you were hesitant.” She tightens her grip on his hand as much as she can.

“But it doesn’t truly matter now. You can be anyone you want to be.”

“I’m going to make it up to you, okay?” He kisses her forehead, then her cheek, “no more secrets, I promise.” 

Matt knows he doesn’t deserve Elektra’s understanding, or her love but he’s okay with being selfish if it means having her by his side.

Elektra melts into the pillow and smiles softly as she watches Matt leave the room. All is quiet for a few moments after he leaves, then there’s a _thud_  and she hears Matt hiss in pain.

She gets out of bed as quickly as possible, irritating her wounds. She bends over, but still forces her way to the door.

Just as Elektra enters the room, Matt slits the throat of the intruder, the teenager’s blood splattering over his shirt and face. He drops the knife and listens with interest as the body collapses in front of him and his heart splutters to a stop.

Elektra drops to her knees as she takes in the carnage. She clutches her abdomen and cries. “What have you done?”

Matt wipes the blood from his face, his hands shaky from the spike of adrenaline running through him from the thrill of killing. There’s nothing he can say, so when he can, he walks over to Elektra and kneels down beside her. He buries his face into her shoulder and holds her tight, whispering something that sounds like “I’m sorry.”

Elektra’s now open wound bleeds onto his hand, and she passes out. Horrified.


	3. in god’s holy keeping

Matt rushes to the bedroom when he hears Elektra awake. It has been hours since the bloodshed, and he’s done his best to take care of everything without Elektra or Stick present to help.

The body of the boy is gone, tied down and dumped in the river. If someone finds it then at least it’ll be unrecognisable, nobody to come forward and identity the body. It can’t be traced back to him or Elektra, they’re safe.

He sits down on the edge of the bed, listening to make sure she hasn’t opened up her wound once again. His hands twitch to reach out and touch her but he knows he can’t, not after what he’s done; not with the hands of a killer.

Her eyes slowly open, as she feels the edge of the bed being weighed down. She lets out a groan as she tries to sit up. Last night’s memories assaulting her.

“Where is he?”

“Don’t move,” he shushes softly, placing his hand on her shoulder to gentle push her back down on the bed. He wants to avoid the topic for as long as possible, dance around it and hope he somehow manages to escape her disappointment. 

She begrudgingly listens, letting him lay her back down. “What happened to the boy? Where is he?” She won’t let it go. Not even with him.

“I took care of it,” he admits after a few long moments of silence. His face is clean from blood but his shirt is still stained, he had tried to wash it but the splatters still remained.

“Him. He wasn’t an It. He was a person.” Elektra sinks deeper into the pillows. Unable to look at his face.

She loves him. She loves him so much, but his blood lust, it disturbs her. She’s ruthless, and she doesn’t mind bloodshed, but she doesn’t crave it. Not like how he seems too.

“A person who came here to kill us both,” he doesn’t regret killing the boy, not when he could have potentially put Elektra’s life at risk, “I didn’t do what I did for fun, Elektra. I did it for us.”

“He was practically a child!” She turns to face him. Her voice wet with emotion. “Brainwashed by The Hand. At least have some sympathy for that.”

Matt’s mouth tightens shut, he stops himself from saying what he feels; he doesn’t care how young he was, The Hand made him a threat and therefore, he had to be taken out. 

“I know,” he says softly, retreating his hands to lay on his lap awkwardly. He didn’t expect Elektra to be okay with what had happened but this? Surely she must feel some relief considering he was not the one to have died.”

“Are you hurt?” Her eyes take in his form. Seeing the bloodstained shirt on his body, her fingers creep forward to gently caress his hand.

“I’m okay,” Matt gives a small smile and brushes his fingertips across Elektra’s knuckles. Being a little battered and bruised and never caused him too much distress, plus the thrill of the kill had helped him through any discomfort for the first hour or so.

“How about you, how are you feeling?”

“Better, but still weak.” She slowly turns onto her side, and lets his fingers brush away some hair. “I forgot to ask, how is your case going?” She doesn’t want to talk about the boy anymore, it’s too upsetting.

“I don’t think we’ll lose, if that’s what you mean,” he manages a smile, even if it is a sad one. He wants to lay beside her, cradle her up in his arms and protect her from everything bad, everything he is and brings along with him. If he were less selfish then maybe he would have left after last night, but it’s just one of his many flaws.

“Can you tell me everything? About yourself, your life? I don’t want any more secrets.”

Her love for Matt overrides all her morals, but if she’s going to accept the good and the ugly, she needs complete honesty.

Matt hesitates for a long moment before he reaches out and caresses Elektra’s cheek, barely grazing her as though she will shatter with too much pressure.

“What if you don’t love me afterwards?”

“That’s not possible.” She admits. Even if he’s done awful things, as long as they stay in the past, and he doesn’t continue to do it, she’ll accept him no matter what.

A part of her knows that even if he does it again, she’ll take him back. Her one weakness has always been him.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he says after another long pause, “you’re too good, always have been. I tried to snuff it out of you in college but… I’m so glad I failed.”

If he were a better man, he wouldn’t have turned up at her apartment at all, he would have stayed away and taken care of business without roping Elektra into it. Even after the pain of that night long ago, she’s still his one soft spot, the one person who makes him regretful and ache for goodness.

Her hand reaches up and caresses his face. “The goodness in you too. You’ve been raised in a bloody world, where killing is an optimal solution to any problem. It’s not your fault. Who knows who I would’ve been, if I had been raised the same way.”

Matt nuzzles his cheek against her palm, a small sigh escapes his lips and his eyes flutter closed. He knows he doesn’t deserve another chance, he’s been given far too many already but when it comes to Elektra, he’ll always take whatever she offers.

“You need to rest,” he eventually says, willing himself to stand up from the bed so that Elektra can sleep in peace. “We can talk later, whatever you want to know. I promise.”

“You promise?” She asks, already nestling back against the pillows. Sleepiness creeping back into her body at lighting speed.

Instead of responding, Matt leans down and presses a gentle kiss to Elektra’s forehead. Softness does not come naturally to him but with her, it almost feels like first nature. He leaves soon after to let her sleep, and to prepare for all the gory details he is going to confess.

She has no idea how long she’s slept, when she wakes up again later. Her body doesn’t feel as heavy, and she tries to leave the bed as cautiously as possible. Needing the bathroom.

She opens her bedroom door and peers out into the hall, and sees no Matt. She steps out, and glances down the stairs to the bottom floor, but still no Matt.

 _Where is he?_ Panic wells in her throat at the thought he might’ve left her for good.

Matt intended to return back to Elektra. He’d only gone out with the desire for some fresh air, time to think and walk the streets without his worries tainting her apartment. That was, until, he was stopped by a stranger, a woman asking him of all people for directions.

Her heartbeat indicated less than truthful intentions and after being dragged into the alley by said stranger and having a knife pushed against his throat, Matt knew he had to break his promise once again.

Now, he sat on the rooftop of Elektra’s building. His feet dangled off the edge and his once again blood stained hands clung to the old brick. The final words from the stranger echoed in his head, bubbled and bloody as he slashed her knife through her stomach and forced her to tell him who’d sent her.

“ _It was Stick._ ”

Elektra clings to the stair railing. Desperate not to lose her balance, and tumble down the stairs.

Her eyes scan the bottom floor. The kitchen and entryway is empty, as is her living room.

 _What happened? Why is he gone?_ She bites her bottom lip as tears well in her eyes. Still, she clings to hope. Maybe he’s in the bathroom or something.

“Matthew?” She asks into the darkness. Desperate for an answer.

Matt hears Elektra’s pleas clearly, it breaks his heart to not reply but he knows now he can’t. He will bring nothing but death to her door, especially now he’s angered Stick enough to wish for his own execution. He needs to kill him, to rid him from both his and Elektra’s lives before the thought of moving on can ever be a possibility.

He gets up and starts to make his exit, dropping into the fire exit beside her building then into the alleyway below. It won’t take long to find him, he’s always been good at finding trouble.

When all she’s greeted with is more silence, Elektra bites her bottom lip. and fights back tears.

She cautiously makes her way to the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle of Mezcal, and some snacks. She takes a swig, then returns upstairs.

Once she’s done in the bathroom, she climbs back in bed. _Maybe he’ll be back when I wake up._

It would be easy to just forget about Stick. He’s a jealous old man who is bitter in his rejection, Matt knows this. He could leave the city with Elektra now, go somewhere they’d never be found and leave this stupid war behind him. However, Matt is nothing if not vengeful. He will not let the man who ruined his life live in the satisfaction he’d almost taken it too.

He scopes out the building he tracks Stick down to with ease, his gloved hands trembles as he makes his way inside. Instead of meeting Stick alone, a Hand ambush quickly follows and they steal him away before Matt has his chance to slit his throat. 

Elektra awakens later to the sound of door slowly opening. She sits up as quickly as she can, and eagerly shouts out. “Matthew, is that you?”

Matt breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of Elektra’s voice. He slowly begins to strip out from his suit, pulling the gloves off with his teeth and tossing them to the side. He strips down to the black undershirt and pants, toeing slowly up the stairs with the new aches and bruises from the fight before hesitating outside of the bedroom.

“Yeah,” he breathes softly, dreading the conversation to come. He pushes the door open and steps inside, cringing at the uptake of Elektra’s heartbeat as she watches him hobble to her bedside and sit down.

Her hands instantly go to his face. Cradling it. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I went after Stick,” he confesses with an edge of sadness, both in his own blood-thirst and loss of someone who he had once considered a father. His eyes flutter closed and his head drops, the weight of his own disappointment.

“I went to kill him.”

“What? Why?” Confusion laces her words, but also worry. Not for Stick, but for Matt. What killing Stick would do to him. “What happened?”

“He sent someone after me. He’s angry, bitter about me choosing you instead of fighting his war,” Matt sighs before reaching up to lay one of his hands over Elektra’s. “The Hand got there before I could kill him. They’ve taken him somewhere….” His words trail off, now becoming quiet in contemplation of what had taken place.

“We have to find him.” She bites her lip at the look of shock on his face. “There’s a reason The Hand took him, and we have to know why.”

“If we find him, I’m going to kill him.” He turns his head back up so Elektra can see his face, see the seriousness plastered over it. “We need to be done with all this. He can’t live without trying to destroy one of us, so once we find him and figure out what The Hand wants with him, I will kill him. Do you understand?”

She gulps. She knows he’s serious, and she hates it, but she’ll do what she must. “Okay. Okay.” She’ll try to change his mind in the interim, and pray she succeeds.

“When do we leave?”

Despite knowing this isn’t what Elektra wants, Matt knows that this is the right thing to do. Once he’s dead they can leave the city, go somewhere no one will ever find them. The Hand isn’t his battle, and it isn’t Elektra’s either.

“How are you feeling?” He asks softly, reaching out to brush the hair away from her face. “You don’t have to do this. You can stay here, keep healing. You don’t have to be witness to any of this.”

“You need someone to have your back.” She’s been feeling better. Enough to fight, maybe not at her premium form, but still, she can take care of herself.

“As soon as night falls again, we gotta find where he’s being kept. The Hand want him for a reason.”

Matt nods before curling his hand around Elektra’s jaw and pulling her in for a gentle kiss. There’s no point in arguing, she’s stubborn and in all fairness, he fights best with her on his side.

* * *

Elektra hisses slightly in pain, while pulling on her red suit. The slash wound still aches when she moves certain ways, and there’s an soreness in her ribs.

“Do you know where he might be?” She asks Matt, as they perch on her building rooftop. Looking out onto the sea of city lights.

“I’ve got a vague idea,” he frowns at the sound of Elektra wincing. He’d already almost lost her once and he isn’t about to let it happen again. If things go south, then his one priority is getting her to safety. If it means giving up his kill, then so be it.

“Then lead the way.” He nods, and then takes off into a sprint. She follows behind him. Keeping up with the same speed, and ignoring the knot in her side.

They traverse over several buildings, until he stops on top of one, and crouches down. Her eyes scan the perimeter below, and she sees several people dressed, like the previous Hand operatives they’ve fought before.

“We’ve found several Hand, but do you know if Stick is here?”

Matt is quiet for a long moment before he nods. His hands ball up into fists beside him as he takes in the sound of Stick mouthing off to what he assumes is another Hand solider. He sounds battered, the smell of blood is thick even from their position atop the building and Matt trembles slightly at the thought of losing his shot.

“We need to move quickly,” he doesn’t say it’s because he wants a chance to kill Stick before they beat him to it. Before Elektra can reply, he’s already making his way down to ground level.

She follows. Creeping behind him. They scale down the building, and land quietly below. Matt taking the lead as they enter.

She spots Stick tied to a chair, but with Hand around him. Elektra quietly whispers. “What now?”

Matt grits his teeth as he listens. Everything in his body is telling him to just attack indiscriminately, to not stop until everyone in the room is dead but himself and Elektra. So, why fight instinct?

He throws one of his billy clubs at the wall and it ricochets off and hits one of the Hand soldiers, Matt then lunges and starts the attack. With Elektra by his side, they manage to take down the majority until he catches the sound on oncoming footsteps.

Elektra catches her breath, as several more Hand come running towards them. Her mouth falls open in shock, as she sees Nobu step into the light. His scarred face on display.

 _He died. He burned to death. Yet he stands before me_.

Nobu looks over Matt, before eyeing her. “You’ve done me a great favour. The Hand thanks you.”

“We’ve just lost the war.” She hears Stick mumble through a mouth full of blood.

Matt puts a hand out and slowly pushes Elektra back behind him, beside Stick. It’s difficult to estimate how many now stand before them but its more than he think they can handle.

“What do you want with him?” He nods behind him towards Stick, a sickly feeling growing in his stomach at the realisation they’ve been cornered.

“We knew you’d follow.” Nobu continues his speech, eyeing Matt up with interest, “Hungry until the very end, we can feed you now. Tell me, do you know who we are? Who we serve?”

Elektra bites her lip beneath her cowl. Ready to grab Matt and run. His safety is more important then Stick’s, and she fears why Nobu’s has an interest in him.

“You serve the Black Sky, a whole other load of bullshit.” Matt sneers. 

He’s heard too much about their worshipping, their desire to find their weapon and use it to win their war. It’s what he’s been taught to fight ever since he was a kid, it was only after he left Stick that he started to question its existence at all.

“The Black Sky is real. It was stolen from us but it has now been returned. Our greatest living weapon.” Nobu takes a step forward and Matt almost finches, barely standing his ground. “ _It’s you, Matthew._ ”

Elektra’s eyes blink in shock and confusion. She doesn’t believe this Black Skye shit, but she knows that Nobu does, and that makes the danger in this situation go up several notches.

They need to make a getaway, and she needs to figure it out now.

Matt makes himself breath out a laugh, he tries to convince himself that this is a trick, some kind of excuse they’re using to distract him and finally take out the last few people standing in there way.

It makes sense though. Every single time someone had tried to tame him, scared and desperate of the young boy who could so easily take a life and enjoy it at that, they were scared because they _knew_.

He turns to face Stick, his hands trembling as he points a finger in his direction.

“This whole time, you knew what I—” Matt stops suddenly, clenching his jaw tight to stop the words coming out. It’ll become real then, and he’s not ready for that.

Elektra cautiously takes a step forward. Keeping an eye on The Hand, but all her attention is on Matt. She can see him slipping, being dragged under by Nobu’s words.

“ _Matthew_.”

Matt quickly steps back from Elektra, turning around when he hears the congregation behind him kneel.

“You are home now. We live and die to serve you, Black Sky.” Nobu says, barely audible through the sound of Matt’s own heart pounding in his ears.

“ _Matthew_.” She repeats herself. Desperation in her voice. She won’t lose him to darkness. To blood and death. Not again.

“You should leave, Elektra.” Matt says quietly, not even sounding like himself. His voice low but there was no warmth to it, a bloody mix of horror and delight at the thought of being able to embrace everything he’d been trying to repress for years upon years.

Her teeth grit as she nearly growls at him. “Not without you. I’m not losing you again.” Her hands clench around her sai hilts.

“Maybe this is a good thing…” he says softly, hesitating between walking forward towards Nobu or back to Elektra, “I’ve been trying to control myself but maybe it’s impossible. Maybe this is my chance to finally…” his words trail off as he turns back towards Nobu.

“To be what? Loved.” Her voice is sad as she thinks of all Matt’s been through. “I love you. Or is that, you think you can be yourself with them? Or what you’ve been conditioned to think is who you are?” She once more hesitantly step towards him. The light in the corner shining into her eyes.

“Look what I’ve done to you. Even after all this time, you still don’t see who I am.” Matt blinks back the tears threatening to spill over. His feet stutter as he once more steps towards Nobu, reaching out behind him to take the sword offered up above his head.

“How many times will you make yourself bleed for me?” Matt asks and points the blade towards Elektra.

“As many times it takes, to make you see you’re not corrupt and evil like you think.” She tilts her head back, putting her covered neck on display. “But if you are what they say, kill me. Kill me.” She once more steps ahead, letting the sword press against her.

Matt tries to make himself push the blade harder against Elektra’s neck, but his hands shake and he is unable to move. He doesn’t want to kill her, he wants to prove that he has no choice, that he’s simply a lost cause that love cannot save. If he isn’t, that means he’s chosen to be monstrous and that is even worse.

“I’m sorry.” He says after what feels like an eternity of silence. He takes a deep breath and, surprising everyone, whips around and slahes at Nobu, landing a deep cut across his chest. 

The blood splatters against her face, and she grabs Stick. Pulling him from the chair.

She then throws Stick’s arm around her neck, and races out of the room. Praying Matt follows.

Matt barely escapes with Nobu now injured and the Hand soldiers ordered to kill him if they must. Adrenaline courses through him as he bolts out from the building to catch up with Elektra and Stick.

When they manage to make it back to her apartment, she throws Stick onto a chair. “What now?” She turns to Matt, and places a loving hand on his cheek. He shakes it off, and heads up to her roof.

Elektra sighs, looks at Stick, and then follows Matt. He can’t be alone right now.

His feet brush off the roof edge, the city is loud and buzzing around him and the late night breeze is like a slap to the face. His mask sits beside him, the sword he’d been offered tossed as far away from him as he could manage.

“You should have left when I told you to.” Matt says upon hearing Elektra’s approaching footsteps. He doesn’t want to face her, not now he held a blade to her throat and almost cost her life, _again_.

“You know why I can’t do that.” She doesn’t move to close to him. Scared he might do something rash.

“I love you, and I’m here for you. Whatever you need, I’ll do.”

“I should never have come back here.” Matt says after a long moment of silence. “I was selfish, bringing you back into all this because— “ He pauses and exhales shakily.

“There’s no winning here, for me or for you. They’ll tear this city apart to get to me. Even if you don’t believe in the Black Sky, they do. There’s only one way to stop it falling into their hands.”

“Then we defeat them. Beat them at their own game. You’ve know more then I do, and you know how to throw them off.” Elektra cautiously comes closer, and places a hand on his soldier.

“Don’t let them get to you. There’s goodness in you. I’ve seen it. An evil person wouldn’t be so conflicted. They’d be with The Hand now, and I’d be dead.” She places a feather soft kiss on his shoulder.

“A good person wouldn’t have threatened your life at all.” He insists, but doesn’t flinch away. Eventually, bravery kicks in and he takes a step back from the ledge, instead turns around to face Elektra.

“You don’t have to fight this with me. You can still leave, before its too late.”

“Not without you.” She leans foreword and kisses him gently. “If you’re going to fight, then I’m going to be at your side.”

Her fingers run through his damp hair. “Now what are we going to do, with the bloody man in my living room?”

“What do _you_ want?” Matt asks after a long moment of contemplation. “I won’t kill him if you don’t want me to. There’s already been too much bloodshed in your home.”

He pauses to listen to Stick, still half dead and muttering angryily to himself.

“I can’t promise he won’t try and kill me though.”

“We’ll tie him up, and deal with him later.” They kiss once more, then she rests her head on his shoulder. “Come back downstairs. It’s cold.”

Just as Elektra turns to go back into the apartment, Matt takes a gentle hold of her hand and pulls her back to him.

“I love you too,” he says, intertwining their fingers, “you know that, right?”

“I do.” She kisses him softly, then tugs him back to her apartment. They tie up Stick, then crawl beneath her warm covers.

“We’ll hit them tomorrow. They won’t expect it.” Her fingers trail through his hair.

Matt nods and trails his fingers up Elektra’s body, tracing up her arms before lingering against her neck, over the place he’d pressed the blade earlier that night. He can’t find the words to express his regret, so he says nothing. Instead, he pulls her closer and holds her tight until sleep follows. 

They spend the next day preparing for the night, and giving Stick enough food to get him to shut up.

When night comes, she heads into the bathroom to change into her outfit. A part of her worries about leaving Matt alone with Stick, even for a short time, but she trusts him not to harm the old man. If not for himself, then for her.

Anger still floods Matt’s body as he sits in front of Stick, but also a sense of understanding. He’s known the entire time what Matt was and if the stories are to be true, then he can’t be blamed for the murder attempt. Still, it doesn’t make Matt feel any softer for him, he pulls his boots on while half listening to Stick drone on.

“This city will burn until they have you, Matty. I should have killed you myself, save myself all the damn trouble.” Matt chuckles low from his throat and stands up.

“Yeah, you should have.” He turns at the sound of Elektra exiting the bathroom and walks over to her, happy for the excuse to disengage from Stick. “Ready?”

She nods. Walking over to him, and taking his hand. “You two make me sick.” Stick groans.

“Good, because you’re the reason we meet.” She spews back. Heatedly glaring at him.

Her ‘work’ phone rings, breaking the silence. She picks it up, and sees Brett’s number. The vigilante and the detective have a quiet partnership. He helps her, and vice versa.

“Detective Mahoney, what is it?”

“Some guys came and beat me up, and demanded all the files on the people you’ve saved.” Her stomach drops.

“What did they look like?”

“Like Ninjas.”

“I’ll deal with it.” Elektra hangs up. Her hand softly shaking.

Matt frowns as he listens in on the conversation, still holding Elektra’s hand and rubbing his thumb comfortingly across her knuckles.

“Sounds like a lead,” he chimes in once she hangs up, “and a trap. You sure you want to do this?” He knows that there’s nothing he can do to talk Elektra out of this, not now the people of the city she’s vowed to protect are in danger. Still, he wishes for once she could be selfish. He doesn’t want any more harm to come to her.

“I have to. I could never live with myself.” She sighs and lifts up her cowl, and Matt puts on his helmet.

Stick scoffs at her turmoil, and she can’t help but kick at his chair. Sending it to the floor, with Stick still attached.

“Let’s go.” They once more head to the roof, and Matt crouches down. “Do you hear anything?” Her hand lovingly caresses his back.

Matt is quiet for a long moment as he studies the city beneath them, searching for anything that could lead them to where the Hand are lurking, waiting for them. Eventually, he quickly stands up and nods east of them.

“That way.” He says, ghosting a hand across Elektra’s shoulder before bolting in the direction of the moving bus, packed to the brim with Elektra’s saved souls.

They run side by side, over rooftops and alleys. They land on a building across from where the people are being taken in.

“How are we doing this? We’re vastly outnumbered.” She tries to count how many Hand she can see, but there’s too many.

It’s like they’re a beehive, waiting for their Queen. Or in this case, Black Skye.

The area is flooding with erratic heartbeats, heaving breaths being drawn and tears sniffed back. He doesn’t need sight to know that the Hand are calm and waiting, clearly in the belief they have nothing to do but win.

“We do it together.” There’s no other option, not with innocent lives now on the line. Even though they’re outnumbered, they haven’t lost a fight together before, he doesn’t plan on starting now.

Elektra kisses him once more. “I love you. Let’s kick some ass.”

They jump from the building, and break into the Hand’s compound. Ready to fight for their lives.

They battle through the Hand soldiers, rescuing the captives and making sure they are out of the building before heading up towards the rooftop where they know more are waiting.

After locking a few doors on their way up to give them some more time as even more of the Hand follow behind them, Matt collapses down against a wall and slides off his mask. They only have a few minutes before they have to start moving again, so it has to count.

Elektra falls beside him. Her eyes taking in his face, and once more she kisses him. Tears now welling in her dark eyes.

They’re not going to make it out alive. Not unless a miracle happens.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I made you come here.” She rests her forehead against his.

Matt’s gloved hand tenderly strokes Elektra’s cheek, their noses brush as they rest their foreheads together. He’d known what he was getting into and even now, with an army waiting for them, there’s still no where he’d rather be.

“After this is over,” he starts slowly, even managing a smile, “we should go somewhere, together. Somewhere warm, somewhere as far away from New York as we can go.” He rubs away one of the stray tears now falling down her cheek. “There are sexy places to hide, you know. It doesn’t have to be all bad.”

“I haven’t been to San Sebastián in years. And I always liked Morocco.” Elektra kisses him again. “When this fight is done, we can head straight for the airport. I have enough money in my bank account to get us a ticket to anywhere you’d like.”

This is going to work. They’re going to survive, and finally live their lives together. She can’t let herself imagine the possibility of them failing. Of her dying, and him being taken away.

“We can do anything, yeah? All those things we talked about back in college, Ellie and Matty, raise them somewhere nice, away from all this.” His voice shakes as he speaks, the mere thought of having this life with Elektra outside of this war and the blood that comes with it almost brings him to tears.

She nods. “Yeah. We’ll do that. We’ll have that.” Her voice wavers.

The banging on a door below rips them from their dream, and she regretfully stands. “Do you want to do this here? Or on the roof?”

“The roof, always did like a view,” he manages a smile before pulling himself up and slipping his mask back on. He notices the trembling now settled in his hands but ignores it, he follows after Elektra with haste as she opens the next door and they head up to the roof.

Nobu and his followers greet them when they reach the top. Once more he lives, when he should’ve died.

“Black Skye.” He bows to Matt, and Elektra clenches her sai handles harder. “You belong with us.” He turns to her. “And you belong in the ground.” He spews, and comes running at her. Blade raised.

Matt blocks his sword with one of his billy clubs, then kicks him away before engaging in combat with one of the soldiers coming up from behind them.

It’s a messy battle but one he thinks they somehow might have a chance at winning. As another Hand member falls at his feet, he catches the sound of Nobu’s blade once again slicing through the air in the direction of Elektra. Without thinking, Matt pushes himself in between them—

A choked moan of pain forces its way from his throat as the blade pierces through his suit and into his stomach.

Without thinking, Elektra slices Nobu with her sword, and sends him flying backwards.

She takes Matt in her arms, and gently lowers him to a ground. “Don’t move. I’ll get help. Stay still.” His blood coats her hands, as she tries to position him in the best way possible.

Matt grabs at Elektra’s arm, smearing blood over her skin from where he touched the now gaping wound. He shakes his head and grips her tighter, the world already starting to quiet around him.

“Stay.” 

“Okay. Okay.” She rests her forehead on his. “But you’re going to be alright. You’re going to survive this.”

_He can’t die. He can’t leave her again._

He should be scared. He can feel his grip on Elektra’s arm loosen involuntarily as he sinks lower into her hold, the city is growing quieter and quieter and yet, all he can feel is immense relief. 

He doesn’t care about his own life, never has, but he cares tenfold about Elektra and he’s happy to die in her arms, happy to die in the knowledge that he saved her.

 _“_ So this is what it feels like to be good” he breathes with a wince, the smell of blood barely catching in his already dying senses, “is it always this painful?” He manages a weak smile, focusing in on the sound of Elektra’s beautifully alive heartbeat, frantic and scared but _alive_.

“Yeah.” Her voice is wet with emotion. “And it gives one hell of a post fight hangover.”

She can feel him slipping away. “ _Please don’t leave me_.” She begs. Tears running down her face, and pooling beneath her cowl.

“I’m not,” he wants to reach up and wipe away her tears but he can’t, and it breaks his heart more than anything. He takes one last deep breath before speaking for the last time, “this is not the end.”

Moments later, the world goes silent, and Matt falls limp.

The howl of pain she lets out, shakes and startles even the few remaining Hand soldiers. Nobu’s head lifts in shock as he sees his ‘weapon’ die.

Elektra shakes as she presses a kiss to Matt’s forehead, then his nose, and finally his lips, before gently laying him down. She forces herself to stand from beside his already cooling body, and charges at Nobu.

She slices through him, and fueled by grief, throws him over the building to his death. 

She easily takes out the small amount of Hand left, then falls to her knees beside Matt. Once more taking him in her arms, and cradling him.

Elektra arranges the funeral. Having it at Matt’s childhood church. All the remaining nuns that raised him come, and his old priest, Father Lantom officiates. Stick is the only attendee she knows.

One of the nuns shuffle towards her after the burial, tears staining her. “Matthew was a violent, rude, and insubordinate child, but he had good inside him, and I don’t have to know you to see that you brought it out in him. I can tell you’re that type of person.”

“Thank you.” Her smile is watery. “I never caught your name.”

“Sister Maggie.”

“Elektra Natchios.” 

“Thank you for loving him.” Sister Maggie says quietly, before returning to Father Lantom’s side. The priest gives her a tight hug, before leaving with her.

Elektra crouches down and lays Orchids at Matt’s grave. _When we were in college he brought me roses. I hate roses, but he looked so nervous and excited to give them to me, that I didn’t say anything. Orchids are my favorites, and when he found out weeks later, he bought me the biggest bouquet of them he could find._

She traces the engraving on his tombstone. _Matthew Michael Murdock. 1982 - 2015 ‘ A Good Man’_

“Goodbye Matthew.” She softly whispers, before getting up and walking out of the graveyard.


	4. ashes to ashes, and dust to dust

Matt stands on the rooftop, his black coat swaying in the wind, with the hood pulled up to mask his face. The city is radiating with panic, babies cry and women shriek, car alarms and smashing glass echo around him as he listens in on the chaos ensuing.

He can still smell the blood on him, its been days since the resurrection but it lingers, a memory he can’t forget— the first memory. The world has been so loud since he had awoken again, he returned screaming, covered in blood that was not his own and with nothing but darkness surrounding him. It was terrifying, but now he has become used to his purpose in this existence.

A hand brushes his cheek, sweet perfume and the sickly smell of hospital disinfectant hits him and he turns his head to face his master.

“It’s just a city. You’ll get used to watching them fall.” She says and Matt knows how to do nothing but agree. They stand over the crumbling city and watch as their plan begins to unfold.

Elektra had been laying awake in her bed when the panic began, and the earth shook. She had been trying to forget the awful memory of Matt’s death, and the chaos had sadly been welcomed.

When the day arrives, and all is as calm as it can be, she slips into the shower. Sticky with the blood of a perp she cut, but didn’t kill.

Now she stands beneath the spray, hit by memories of being under it not long ago. Crouched down and shaking. Covered in Matt’s blood.

She can taste the tears that run down her wet cheeks, and she puts out a shaky hand to steady herself. “Why did you leave me?” She harshly whispers, but no one responds.

In the search for the Iron Fist, they capture an old man Matt does not recognise. He’s told he’s apart of the Chaste, a group trying to prevent the Hand taking what rightfully belongs to them. When the days of torture do not work, he’s brought in along Alexandra, new knives lodged in his holsters which he presses tight against the man’s neck.

“Make a new friend?” The old man asks with a bitter laugh, pressing back against the blade. Matt doesn’t flinch, he’ll let him cut himself if he wants. Alexandra smiles when he realises who is holding the knife to his throat.

“No, Stick. I took one of yours.” Matt registers the acknowledgement of his past life, that he perhaps knew this man and even fought along side him. None of that mattered now, the man he was before had died so he could live.

He is the Black Sky, and he lives to serve the Hand.

Elektra hears through her string of contacts, that there’s trouble brewing in Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem. Apparently the infamous Luke Cage got into a fight with a man who has a glowing fist, and Jessica Jones got arrested. Again.

She wants to leave them to their troubles, but something tells her they’re connected, so she quietly follows Jessica, dressed like a civilian.

When she arrives at Midland Circle, she fights back the wave of emotions that hit. This is where she fought with Matt. Where she almost died.

_How ominous_. She thinks as she forces herself to step inside.

Matt paces as he listens in on the fight taking place so close to him, he wants to go out there but was told to wait until it was time. So, he waits until the intruders beat their way through all the strategically hired Midland Circle employees and attempt to make their escape before he finally knows this is _the_ time.

He can smell two women and two men, a vague picture of them paints in his mind with their thumping heartbeats pounding against the walls around them, echoing through the hallway along with the oncoming footsteps of more Hand soldiers.

After twirling his blades around, he lunges at the closest target, one of the women while the others are entertained and busy.

Elektra blocks his blow with her sai, and kicks him. He steps back, but then comes at her again.

She parries him blow for blow, until he shoves her through a glass window. It shatters around her, and her back hits the floor. He steps in after her, and she sees that his cowl has slipped.

Her eyes widen in shock when she sees his face. “ _Matthew_?”

Matt hesitates at the sound of the woman’s voice, at the name she whispers in disbelief. He stops, tilts his head as he listens to her heart and finds it wild and thundering. The distraction doesn’t last for long though, without a second thought he lifts up one of his blades to plunge through her chest but is stopped by one of her “friends.”

The blow from the Iron Fist sends him flying back, giving them enough time to escape and leave the Hand empty. 

They find a restaurant to hide out in for now, and Elektra tends to her new wounds. They’ve all seen her face, but they don’t know who she truly is. What she does.

She plans to keep it that way.

“I’m assuming you’re not just a concerned citizen?” Jessica puts her boots up on the table.

“No, she’s the precious vigilante that’s been protecting the Kitchen.” Stick sneers from behind. Elektra whirls around to see his knarled face, and missing hand.

Matt lays on his bed, stroking his fingers thoughtfully over the scar across his stomach. He has plenty of them, all stories he doesn’t remember but sometimes the pain flashes back. He knows it came from the fight that ended his last life, Alexandra had told him so when she caught him touching it before, as though he was trying to remember who he had been before the resurrection.

He thinks about the woman he’d fought earlier than day. There was something vaguely familiar about her, dwindling away like a dream he couldn’t get a grasp on. It didn’t matter anyways, he knew what he had to do and the next time they came face to face, he wouldn’t hesitate.

Danny was estactic when he learned who she was, Jessica was mildly indifferent, and Luke was surprised. Said he expected someone taller.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, and it _wasn’t_ nice seeing you Stick, you fucker, but I have to go.” Elektra begins to shuffle towards the back door. Jessica has barricaded the front.

“What?! You’re supposed to fight with us!” Danny exclaims.

“I’m not that person anymore. I’ve put her to rest.”

“Why? We need you?” Luke leans on the table.

“I’ve lost too much.”

“You think we haven’t lost anything too?” Danny sounds offended at the very notion.

“Go home, back to your loves one. Hold them while you can. Because if you’re not careful, you’ll be burying them.” Elektra fights back tears of the memories of Matt, dying in her arms. She can still smell the blood of his fateful wound.

Matt knows not everyone is as trusting in him as Alexandra is. She has to be, it was her plan to resurrect the Black Sky after all. He’s failed once, failed to capture the Iron Fist and failed to execute anyone who stood in his way.

This time, he won’t fail. When they manage to locate Danny Rand and his companions, Matt is filled with thoughts of the woman who had matched him in battle. He’ll enjoy slitting her throat when the time comes.

When The Hand comes crashing in, she’s ready. As much as she wants to flee, she can’t. _Matthew is alive_. Stick confirmed it. Though he also said there wasn’t anything left of the man she knew, only a vessel, but she doesn’t believe him. He wouldn’t have hesitated if her Matthew was gone.

Matt comes gunning for her specifically when the fighting starts, and she sees a chance. She manages to lead the fight between them from the restaurant, to the back.

They wrestle, and he pins her to the cement, but Elektra still manages to lift a hand, and caress his cheek. “What have they done to you Matthew?”

Matt hesitates for a second upon his cheek being caressed but he quickly pushes her away, pinning both her hands down against the ground still with one of his knives in his hand. Again, the name she speaks has some vague sense of recollection within him but that must be what she wants, to distract him from his true purpose.

“My poor Matthew.” Elektra says softly. Knowing he can hear the emotion in her voice. “You don’t deserve this.”

He’s still in there, she can feel it in the depths of her soul. Whatever they’ve done to him, has simply submerged it, but it’s waiting to break free.

She knows there’s a chance she’s wrong, and Stick is right, but she doesn’t care. There’s no one else’s blade she’d rather die by.

_She’s right there, you have your chance._ It would be impossibly easy for Matt to simply kill her now, he’s done it plenty of times before and it would be for the greater good; even if it wasn’t, he couldn’t deny the thrill. He had literally been born for this.

But he can’t do it. Something about her voice, the softness of it, the absolute hopelessness. She wasn’t scared for her life, she was scared _for_ him. Before Matt could do anything else, they were interrupted by one of the Hand.

He gets up quickly and kicks Elektra back down when she tries to follow him, by the time she can get up, he’s gone and the man is now laying slumped against the back door, knocked out.

She’s upset he left, but he’s unknowingly given her a gift. Or maybe he did it on purpose.

She grabs the man, and drags him inside. He’s quickly tied up, and they take him away from the restaurant, so The Hand can’t track him.

Elektra borrows Jessica scarf to cover her face, so he doesn’t know who she is, when they begin their interrogation.

If the rest of the Hand aren’t certain about him before, harming one of their own to save the enemy is a step too far. Alexandra however remains confident in his abilities, she has to be after all. She goes to speak with him, to try and work out what is troubling him, throwing him off his guard, but upon entering the room, she is met with an empty space.

Matt stalks across the rooftop with determination, moving as though he has been here before, his feet needing no explanation in which way to go. He takes a few moments to snap open one of the locks on the windows once dropping down to the fire escape and climbs inside Elektra’s apartment.

The place is a little messy, he walks around it carefully while searching for something, anything that would explain her determined softness. He finds his way to her bedroom after a couple minutes of investigating. He lingers in the doorway before going and sitting down on the bed, the sheets messy and the smell of her strongest here, sweet and addictive.

Without thinking, Matt climbs up onto the bed and curls up. He places his head on Elektra’s pillow and closes his eyes, his hands clinging to the sheets as he tries to feel comfort in this moment of peace.

Elektra can’t help but take the lead as they interrogate the Hand leader, who boastfully announces his name as, Sowande.

“You’re pitiful.” He spits at her. “The Black Skye died in your arms because you couldn’t protect him, and now he’s fulfilling his destiny.” His words spark an anger inside her, and she grabs an extra piece of rope, left over from tying him up.

She wraps it around his neck, and begins to pull, slowly chocking him.

“Hey!” Jessica says, and touches her arm, but Elektra tunes her out.

“Your weapon is defective. He hesitates around me. He remembers who he was.”

Sowande is contemplative for a moment. “Then he’ll be destroyed.” Elektra lets out a low growl, and tightens the cord hard enough to knock him unconscious.

“I think it’s time you were honest with them Ellie.” Stick steps closer, and inspects the body.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” a soft voice rouses Matt from his slumber. He’s in Elektra’s sheets, tucked up and shirtless with the smell of warm coffee wafting into the room. He can feel the sunlight streaming into the room, warming his face and making him feel peaceful. “You slept forever.”

Elektra reaches out and strokes a hand across his cheek, trailing down to his lips which she traces over thoughtfully. Matt feels safer than ever before.

“I like it here,” he says thoughtfully, shuffling a little to allow Elektra to crawl into bed beside him. He can sense her smile as she wraps an arm around his waist.

“Back in New York?” She asks before it’s turn for Matt to smile, he shakes his head softly before replying, then leaning in to rest their foreheads together.

“No, back with you.”

He wakes up from the dream to an empty bed.

Elektra listens to Stick, and tells them everything they need to know. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Danny asks.

“Because I didn’t think it mattered.”

“It did!” He lifts his hands.

“The Hand want Danny, this much I know.” Stick cuts in. “You have to keep him out of their grasps.”

Elektra nods. “I’ll go get my suit, and someone should stay with Danny. He can’t fight, or they might take him.”

“I’m fighting! You can’t stop me!” Danny exclaims like a child. He moves to leave but Jessica hits him, and knocks him unconscious.

“There’s an old building where he can be kept.” Stick brings out his sword, and cuts off Sowande’s head. “To be safe.”

Elektra just sighs while Luke and Jessica look on in horror, before leaving the building.

Matt runs his fingers across the tombstone, dead orchids lay across it and he sweeps their rotting petals away. He can’t read the inscription but he traces over the words.

“His name was Matthew Murdock,” Alexandra says and Matt bites his cheek, recalling how sweetly Elektra had spoken his name. “You are not him. You are much more than he ever was.”

Matt stands from his graveside and listens as Alexandra speaks of his death, how the city’s guardian angel had let him die as they faced The Hand together. She was deceitful, trying to turn Matt away from his true purpose and is not to be trusted.

“You are the Black Sky,” she cups his face tenderly, and Matt hides his balled up fist behind his back, “you will lead us to salvation. We will live on forever, and you will never know death again.”

Elektra enters her apartment, and notices one of her windows partially ajar. She clutches her sai, and crouches down. Sneakily moving around and searching.

She doesn’t find anyone. Whoever was here has left. 

She goes through her things to make sure everything is alright, and finds her suit box open. Matt’s obituary which she had tucked beside it as a constant reminder, is gone.

She smiles softly as she stands, and pulls out her suit.  _He’s coming back to me._

When the Iron Fist is located, Matt is sent out to retrieve him, and to slaughter anyone who stands in his way. He arrives to a hectic scene, Danny tied up and about to be killed by Stick, the man who Matt had met before and was now starting to recall. The memories were still hazy but an intense feeling of hatred and rejection flooded him; it would be a relief to kill him.

So, they battle. Matt’s stronger now and manages to pin Stick to the ground with ease, blade ready to plunge through his chest but the sound of hurried footsteps stop him, he recognizes them from a lifetime ago.

Elektra swings the door open. “ _Matthew_!” She screams loudly when she sees him.

She cautiously takes a step towards him. Lifting her hands in surrender. _If only I could get close_. “You don’t want to do this. I know you.”

“Elektra…” He takes a moment to assess her, his memories, like with Stick, were still hazy but he recognizes love, he also recognises incredible pain and loss. Alexandra’s words still sit heavy, the scar on his stomach still hurts on occasion, he knows what happened and he knows what he has to do.

“You’re wrong. I’ve wanted this forever,” He smiles softly and twists the knife in his hand before jerking down and stabbing it through Stick’s throat, blood bubbles up and splatters across his face.

When Elektra rushes over, he pushes her hard enough to fly across the room and hit the wall. He still has things to do, they can’t be together yet. He does the same with Jessica and once the room is quiet, he throws a now unconscious Danny over his shoulder and jumps from the window and lands with a thud.

Elektra wakes up to an unnerving quite. It’s all too silent. She takes in everyone still knocked out, and then she sees Stick.

Blood still clings to his body, and it seems like he’s already starting to stiffen. She lets out a small sob. 

Not for Stick, but for Matt. _Maybe I was wrong_. She thinks for a moment, then shakes her head. _No I can’t be wrong_. _He’s still in there._

She forces herself to wake Luke and Jessica up. They groggily stand, and they make a plan of attack.

“We have to go Midland Circle.” She states, before turning on her heels, and leaving the building.

Matt stands beside Alexandra as she addresses the rest of the Hand leaders. With the Iron Fist now in their possession, they are now able to move on with the next stage of their plan, one that will finally get them the immortality she craves. However, the rest are not as keen, not now one of the fingers has been killed.

“We must eliminate his allies before they come for him. Kill Luke Cage! Kill Jessica Jones! And kill the masked vigilante!” She yells and Matt takes the opportunity to edge closer, sensing her total distraction. “I have proven myself to be the one and only true leader—“

Blood trickles from Alexandra’s mouth as Matt impales her on one of the many swords she had allowed him to chose from. He leans in close as she turns to him and he smiles.

“Her name is Elektra,” he breathes before pulling the sword out and letting her fall to the ground. No longer will anyone control him, he is stronger than they had expected, their underestimation will be their downfall. He turns to the rest of the hand and saunters towards them. “And my name is Matthew Murdock.”

“Any questions?”

They sneakily head into the building, and Jessica brings along a bag of dynamite.

“The guy’s whose apartment I was arrested at, had all this ammo, and he planned to use it here.” She pulls out a map. “This is where the points are.”

Elektra nods. “You put the bombs, and I’ll go down for Danny.”

“What?” Luke sputters. “That’s suicide!”

“No, it’s a distraction.” _Hopefully_. “Once everything is set, look for me.”

She pulls up her cowl, and disappears down a hallway.

It only takes a little teasing to get the Iron Fist to lash out and unlock the gate Alexandra had talked so much about. Now, they have access to immortality. He does not have to face death again.

Matt walks slowly around the cave, twirling his sword still stained with Alexandra’s blood. Soon, it would wear Danny’s too, and anyone else who stood in his way. The Hand were right in part, he was born for this, only they would crumble to allow him his rightful place. 

Elektra creeps around, taking out the few Hand soldiers that are upstairs. She then spots two elevators, that seem to go beneath the building.

She climbs in one, while leaving the other for Jessica and Luke to use. It slightly creeks and groans as she begins to descend beneath the earth.

She’s glad. Now they know she’s coming.

Matt presses his sword against the chest of one of the Hand soldiers who jumps forward at the sound of the elevator lowering. He can smell Elektra, sense her anticipation as she grows closer and closer. He knows her friends are also here but he doesn’t care about that, she is returning to him, like she always should.

“Leave her for me,” he tells the solider before pushing him back and letting him stumble to the ground.

When she steps from the elevator, Matt stands before her, mostly alone. There’s a few Hand off to the side, but she doesn’t care. All she sees is Matt.

“Hello Matthew.” The dirt crunches beneath her boots, as she takes another small step towards him.

“Elektra,” he smiles genuinely for what is the first time since the resurrection. He is happy to see her, even if he knows she will have no part in what is to come. “It’s good to see you again, even under these circumstances.”

“Do you remember then?” She asks with genuine interest. “Who you are? What we were?”

_Come back to me_. She begs silently.

“I remember dying in your arms,” he says casually, slowly beginning to stalk around her, “you let me die. You let my body be dug up and mutilated. I woke up screaming, covered in blood. Did you know that?”

Elektra chokes back tears as she pictures Matt bringing forced back to life. Bloody and alone.

“I didn’t let you die! They took you from me! And I had no idea, none, that you could still be brought back. Stick had spoken of their ability to revive the dead, and I had seen Nobu, but a part of me still didn’t believe it.”

She hesitantly takes another step. “Let’s get away from here. Let’s go. We can have what we talked about in college, and that awful night. Leave New York, and have the life we want. With Ellie and Matty, and everything in between.”

She knows he’s sizing her up like an animal, but she doesn’t care. She’s not leaving without him.

“You know that’s not possible,” he’s tempted but not convinced of Elektra’s true intentions, “Not anymore, but we can have so much more than that.” He hears the second elevator begin to drop and he takes a step forward towards her.

“We could rule the Hand together, for eternity. Imagine it, you and I together until the end of time. Death will never tear us apart again.”

She closes her eyes for a brief moment, and lets herself picture it, then shakes it away. “It’s not right. People aren’t meant to be immortal.” The ground slightly shakes as Luke and Jessica arrive. “Please, come with me. We can do anything together, remember?” She pleads.

“Bakuto set off the bomb, we’re on a time crunch.” Jessica announces as Luke and her get prepared to fight. Danny steps out from the shadows. Ready to join them.

Matt sighs and steps back, the rest of the Hand soldiers gather behind him and ready themselves for battle.

“Have it your way, but I will not see death alone again.”

Elektra regretfully brings out her sai, and takes a stance. “I know.” It’s the last thing she says, before the fight breaks out.

Bodies are flung to and fro, as they cut through The Hand. She makes sure none of the others get close to Matt. Making herself the only one fighting him.

“How much time is left?” She asks as she parries a blow from him.

The Hand put up a good fight, especially with Matt stronger than he was before. If he is to die, then have him be returned to the grave in the arms of Elektra once again, as God intended. Or, he will destroy everyone who dare stands in the way of a forever together.

He doesn’t let anyone else attack her, it’s only right that the injuries inflicted come from each other alone, as it always should be. They fight well together, on the same side or not.

When Jessica yells back she’s not sure, Elektra knows what to do. “Go!” She yells as Matt pins her to a wall. “Go!”

They all hesitate, but she eggs them on. “I can get through to him! Go!” She hopes they believe her, and apparently they do. Heading to the elevator as more Hand begin to swarm them like vultures.

She manages to knock Matt back to the ground, and tries to keep him down. “We can live together. We don’t need to die.”

“Let us live forever then,” he says before kicking Elektra off from him and instead climbs on top of her, “what do we have to live for if we’re not together?” He pins her down, putting his full weight on her as he continues, “This is what we’re meant to be, _this_ is who we are.”

“It’s not just immortality you’re offering me. You want us to rule The Hand, an organization that we were both taught to destroy, Matthew.” She tries to lift her head. “I just want you. Nothing more.”

“This is who I am, it’s who I’ve always been.” He pauses upon hearing the chaos ensuing on the ground floor. The bombs are close to detonating and destroying everything the Hand has been searching for. 

_They aren’t having her_ , he thinks to himself as he picks up a piece of debris and throws it at the control panel for the elevators, breaking them both.

As soon as she heads the elevators stop, she knows what’s coming. All the fight leaves her, but still she wrestles to lift her head, and kisses him. Tears in her eyes.

She lets go of her sai, and struggles to raise her hands, to place them on his face.

Matt hesitates for a brief moment before returning the kiss, his hands slip into her hair as he sits up, pulling Elektra with him.

“You belong here, with me,” he tells her between kisses as the beeping of the bomb above rings out in his ears. It’ll all be silent again soon but at least they’ll be together, at least he won’t be alone.

She deepens the kiss, and wraps her arms around his neck.

They’re going to die, but at least this time it’ll be both of them. They won’t be separated again. They’re one. Bound together by blood and love.

He’s hers, and she’s his. Nothing will change that. Ever.


End file.
